A New Order
by Ashen Author
Summary: Who's running around England, because that isn't Sailor V. And why is an Outer senshi fighting the Dark Kingdom? The senshi wake up in a different order than cannon, affecting group dynamics and competency. spoiler: Naru discovers her best friends secret and wants in on the action.
1. Not the First Domino

I don't own Sailor Moon  
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Tsukino Usagi's mornings were rarely ever good, as the definition of a good morning was the beginning of the afternoon. This particular day in early November was no exception, but it would be the end of an era. Or perhaps, the beginning.

"Usagi, WAKE UP!" called her mother, knocking on the door loudly. Usagi's alarm had been ringing for two minutes, which usually would have gotten her up, but today she seemed even more immune than usual. Finally Ikuko lost her patience and opened the door to drag her daughter out of bed, just as Usagi bolted upright.

"I'm awake, I'm awa—I'm gonna be late!" she cried, seeing the time, and bolting past her mother to the bathroom. Four minutes later (it would have been three, but she put her shoes on the wrong feet and grabbed the wrong backpack) she was rushing out the door with her brother's bento and the fading sound of her usual cry, "I'm gonna be laaate!"

Luckily Usagi was a prodigious runner, and had served on her middle school track team the year before. Unluckily, she hadn't had time to tie up her two odango-pigtails as tightly as she pleased, and her slipstream threw a stray strand of hair in her eyes. Her day was not about to get any better.

"-ere you're going!?" she heard an angry male voice shout at her as the world stopped spinning. Then she realized she was sprawled on top of the older boy, and had apparently run him over.

"Aah! OhmygoshI'msorryI'msorryI'msorry!" she babbled wildly, rolling off of him and franticly scrambling to pick up her scattered books. She whirled around when a hand landed on her shoulder.

"Here," said the dark-haired young man (with gorgeous blue eyes) rather tersely, handing her two books, "Nothing's broken, so no harm, no foul. Just watch where you're going next time, alright?" Usagi mutely nodded as the man turned and walked away, her stomach fluttering oddly. She slipped the last book into her bag and spied her bento at the corner of a parking lot. Just as she picked it up, she heard a yowl, and the laughter of little children. Three of them, three boys young enough to still be shorter than her, had cornered a black cat and looked like trouble.

"What do you think you're doing to that poor thing?" Usagi snapped irately, storming up to them. Upon seeing a bigger girl approach, they scattered. "Poor baby," she crooned to the cat, which was pawing at a Band-Aid on its forehead, clearly distressed. "Come here and let mommy help you with that," she said, putting out her hands. When it didn't scratch her, she picked it up one-armed and wormed the Band-Aid off with her other hand, revealing a crescent-shaped spot.

"You seem pretty tame, but you don't have a collar." Usagi wondered aloud as she set the black cat back down. Just then, she heard a faint ringing on the edge of her hearing, that set off much louder alarms inside her own head.

"I'm LAAAATTtee-," she wailed as she bolted off, leaving a confused black cat behind. Said cat tilted her head and narrowed her eyes in consideration, before giving a brisk nod and padding off, following the blonde's trail.  
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"Now, Usagi," said Ms. Haruna, her homeroom and English teacher, "there are several things I'd like to talk to you about." The petite blonde wilted under her teacher's steady gaze. There was a difference between serving the detention and being asked to stay after school. Usagi, no stranger to the former, was suffering terribly at the implications of the latter. "The first thing I want to discuss," said the imposing woman "is your last English test, which is why I held off on returning everyone else's until tomorrow." She pulled out a piece of paper as Usagi's eyes went wide at the implications.

"Wait! Ms. Haruna, you can't honestly think I'd _cheat_!" Usagi blurted out. Her teacher paused for a moment and let out a tinkling laugh.

"Usagi, if you did cheat then I could only wish all cheaters were like you. No," she said, more somber, "far from being suspiciously good, Usagi, yesterday's test earned you the lowest test grade I've seen in three years," she explained, and flipped the paper over to reveal a large, red—

"Thirty!" Usagi screeched and snatched the offending paper, pouring over it hysterically. "But I— I didn't— I knew— what was I—". Her mother was going to kill her.

"Yes," cut in Ms. Haruna, reclaiming the sheet. "You've never been more than a low B student, Usagi, but I know you can do so much better than this. What's more, most of your mistakes weren't on new material, but on things you did passably on in previous tests. In light of this, I'm willing to let you take a re-test."

"Oh thankyouthankyouthankyou!" Usagi squealed, having been given a stay of execution.

"However," continued the redhead, "I will only give you a re-test if your parents sign that paper and you return it to me tomorrow." Usagi froze, once again feeling the cold of the executioner's blade on her neck. Then she slumped over and sighed, putting the test in her bag.

"Yes Ms. Haruna." Usagi turned to go.

"We're not done, Usagi," said her teacher, and the girl froze. The woman pulled out a binder. "You've been late to class before Usagi, but today really took the cake. I'm starting to notice a pattern."

"Please Ms. Haruna, today was an accident, honest! I had the worst morning ever! First I woke up late 'cause my alarm wasn't loud enough, then I put my shoes on wrong, then I ran into this hot guy while I was-"

"That's enough," cut in Ms. Haruna, and the blonde's mouth snapped shut. It was a miracle the loud teacher hadn't yelled at her yet, and she'd heard a hint of warning in her voice. "Now, I was looking through my attendance records, and I noticed a pattern, so I'd like to ask you a rather personal question." She fiddled with her glasses uncomfortably before looking her student in the eye. "Are you on your period at the moment?"

"What! No! Not for another two weeks," blurted out a bright red Usagi. Then she flushed even more red and buried her face in her hands, mortified.

"Dammit," said Ms. Haruna with a sigh. "There goes that idea." There were a few moments of awkward silence before Usagi finally peeked out from behind her hands, still flushing red.

"Um, what, why, I mean," she stuttered, before Ms. Haruna waved her closer.

"I saw what looked like a monthly pattern in your tardiness and thought that might be the case. Take a look. You have one week where you're late once, maybe, and often you're completely on time. Then there's a week where you arrive on time Monday and Tuesday, but will be late two of the other days, give or take. Following that is a week like this, where you are late anywhere from three days at best, to everyday at worst. Then there's a week where you'll be late two or three times in the first few days but not at the end. Then the pattern repeats."

"Oh."

"Tonaka ran a statistics test on it over lunch and came up with an 87% probability that it wasn't just random. I thought for certain—" she trailed off, no longer certain why they were having this conversation at all, and resolving to pretend it never happened. Then Ms. Haruna just shook her head and waved Usagi away in a clear dismissal. She zipped out the door, down the stairs, and outside to find—

"Naru-chan! Umino-kun!" she called out to her oldest friends who were standing by the gates. "You guys are the best friends ever to wait for me," she cried, pulling the orangette into a tight hug, which was happily returned. Umino just pouted that he didn't get the same treatment, and fidgeted with his coke-bottle glasses. "I think I've just had the worst day ever," said Usagi, "and I really need a milkshake to fix it."

"Let me just stop by the store for money, and we'll head to the Crown," said Naru, and the three of them headed off. What they found at the Osaka P Jewelry store wasn't money, however, but madness.

"Sales and Bargains, everything eighty percent off or more!" called Mrs. Osaka, standing on top of a display case. The floor was covered in women scrambling over one another to snap up the discount jewelry. It looked very much like feeding piranhas they had once seen in a movie.

"What is she thinking?" Naru wondered, slightly horrified. Images of bankruptcy were flowing through her head and churning in her gut. Something was wrong. "Usagi, I've got to talk to her," said Naru, and she dove into the crowd, the blonde loyally following. Umino, however, hung back, weighing the dangers of the estrogen frenzy against the company of his crush.

Usagi vs. losing limbs?

Usagi vs. getting mauled?

Usagi vs. risking castration?

_Not even for Usagi,_ he decided, and waved a goodbye when she turned around to look back at him, before walking away faster than usual.

"Eighty percent off on regular merchandise, and special deals on our special stock. Discounts for everyone!" cried Naru's mother over the roar of the crowd. She jumped from one display case to another, putting her further away from the two girls she hadn't yet seen. Then, as Usagi was beginning to get distracted by all the jewels she had ever admired and couldn't afford, the last straw fell.

Mrs. Osaka plucked off her wedding ring and waved it over the crowd. "Forty karat diamond in pure gold. Who wants it?" she called. Naru blanched, and whirled around to grab Usagi by the shoulders, tearing her away from an alluring display of necklaces.

"Usagi. My mother has officially gone mad. She's auctioning her own wedding ring and I need to slap some sense into her." Usagi saw that her friend looked near tears and opened her mouth, but the redhead cut her off. "No, I need to handle this myself. Just go to the Crown without me and I'll tell you all the details tomorrow, if I haven't had a nervous breakdown."

"But-"

"Don't try to help, just _go_." Naru shoved her friend out the door, something in her gut not wanting the blonde anywhere near this madness. Nothing good could come of it. The simple fact that she didn't see that many people holding jewelry, just people scrambling around, set off alarm bells.

"I—," Usagi began before she found herself talking to the store door, not having realized that Naru had been dragging her to the exit. She'd been preoccupied both by her friend and by all the pieces on display. She felt a tug of longing as her friend disappeared back into the crowd, and she felt her eyes pulled towards a cluster of bracelets in the window, but then her stomach growled and the moment was gone. She turned reluctantly away and headed toward the Crown arcade & malt shop several blocks away.

As she was about to turn the last corner, a horrible thought struck her. With as bad as today had been, had she forgotten her money too? She patted herself down and then began puling things out of her backpack hastily. Pencil, book, binder, pencil, folder, but not even a piece of spare change.

"Ouch! Watch where you throw things, I'm not a trashcan!" snapped an irate and familiar voice. She spun around to find the same guy from that morning. He appeared significantly more irate (wow, maybe she was learning something in school) and was rubbing his arm where her thrown folder had impacted it before spewing her papers on the ground. She rushed over to recollect her things and was about to start babbling apologies—again—when he picked up a particular paper and smirked.

"Oh, wow, a thirty? I guess if you're that stupid you really can't tell the difference between a person and a trash can. Here's a hint, one of them moves around and isn't made of metal," he quipped at her. That rather large and heavy straw proved to be the last, as Usagi's fraying temper snapped.

"Well you smell the same to me, JERK!" she shrieked as she snatched the paper out of his hand, only for a piece to tear off. They both just looked at it for a moment for Usagi grabbed her backpack and with a mighty "GYAAAAAHH!" swung it at him. He ducked, a strap broke, and it landed in the trashcan.

"Slam dunk, Odango Atama," he chuckled and walked away. Usagi just stood looking at the scene blankly, before a single thought passed through her head. _And mom hasn't even seen my test yet._ Then she broke into tears and let out an ear-splitting wail.

"WAAAAAAAAHHH! Today is the worst day EVVVVVEEERR!"  
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Far away, in a cave that was only a few months ago a magically sealed and concealed prison, the darkness was gathering. In the largest cavern rose a mountain of inhuman skeletons, atop which squatted a stone throne, in which perched a witch.

"What news?" asked Beryl, her voice echoing around the cavern and spawning whispers among the monsters crouched around the edges. Five human figures broke from the ranks of the inhuman and stood before the throne in a line. The red-haired witch's red eyes fell upon the one on her left. "Kunzite, how stand our forces?"

"Things are not well, your majesty. Danubrite's failure left us with less than one-hundred youma, and collapsed the gate to England." The white-haired warrior paused, awaiting her opinion, and continued when she did not react. "Following Nephrite's advice I succeeded in opening a new gate to a place called Tokyo, Japan, late yesterday."

"Where is this place?"

"It is near where Jadeite's family once held court, my queen. I have spent the time since then resting and amassing our remaining forces. However, our reserves of energy may be dangerously low, my queen." He bowed to signal the end of his report.

"Zoicite?"

"My queen," began the effeminate blond next to Kunzite, "When the gate was opened I sent through a single youma, Felza, to scout out the terrain. And," he said with a slight leer, "to search out the location of the Ginzuisho you so desperately seek, your majesty."

"Your foresight is wise, Zoicite, but are your actions?" Queen Beryl narrowed her eyes. "If we are as weak as Kunzite claims, then we may be vulnerable to what spells Earth has in its armory. We know from that blasted bitch Sailor M that there is some magic in the world, since one senshi at least is active, and we do not know that these 'firearms' are not ineffective against our soldiers. I would rather not find out. How do I know you do not bring the world's armies down upon our heads?"

"I chose quite carefully, my queen," Zoicite said hastily, dropping into a panicked bow. "Felza has almost no skill in combat, but weaves compulsions to cloud the mind and blind good judgment. Furthermore, I used my own power to disguise her as a human, and disguises are my specialty. I received her report three hours past and she said that all was well, though there was yet no sign of the crystal."

"Good. Do you have anything worth reporting?" Beryl turned to the tall figure in the middle only to receive a mute shake of the head, signifying that there was nothing to report. She held her gaze on the former member of the Silver Millennium for a another moment before turning to the brunette on the center-right.

"Nephrite. What have you seen, and why did you advise the gate be move to this…Toko?" The man bowed.

"My queen, as soon our prison first unraveled mere months ago, I proceeded to the surface to confer with the stars. As per your orders I sought out the Ginzuisho, but my results were scattered, and uncertain. I do not know where the Ginzuisho is _now_, but I know that sometime within the next year it _will_ be in Tokyo."

"Excellent," she purred. "Jadeite, I imagine you were busy building the gate. Have you anything else to report?" she inquired of the blond on the far right.

"No, my queen," he said quietly with a simple bow. "I simply opened the gate, and then shielded on the other side that we would not be discovered. I await only your orders to take action."

"I see," Beryl said neutrally. There was a moment of silence and the hum of her power rose to a buzz. "We need human life force to both awaken our great leader, Metaria, and to maintain our operations to conquer the planet. Until we become more powerful we cannot draw overt attention to ourselves. Understood?"

"Of course, your majesty," they all answered.

"Also, we need to seek out the Ginzuisho, which will make us invincible when it is in our grasp. I have come to a decision." She gestured, and a dark cloud flowed and entered Kunzite. He flinched, only to relax, surprised that he was unharmed.

"Kunzite, as we are low on energy, I shall grant you some of my own. Be honored. Go into the world and seek out the Ginzuisho. Gather energy and return it to me, but be cautious in doing so. We no longer have the overwhelming advantage from when we fought the white witch, and even I do not know how much power we will need to reawaken our great leader."

"Yes, my queen."

"Nephrite, return to the above and seek answers from the stars. And to gather energy from the humans, Jadeite…" She paused seeing that Zoicite had stepped forward, interrupting her.

"My queen, I apologize for my impertinence," he began, feeling her energy tighten in the atmosphere, "but I have already anticipated your request," he finished smugly, feeling the danger lessen. Jadeite scowled. "When Felza reported to me three hours ago, she had found a place where precious gems are sold, though the Ginzuisho was not among them. I gave her permission to drain energy from those who gathered there, and she should finish within the hour." Beryl smiled, showing far too many teeth.  
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As odd as it may seem, Usagi's fight and breakdown may have been the first good thing to happen to her. When she arrived home smelling of garbage with tear tracks on her face and a broken backpack, her mother was so shocked at the resulting tale of woe that she barely looked at Usagi's test before signing it and bundling her upstairs to bathe. Now she sat on her bed with the window open, reading her manga of the week and sipping a cup of cocoa.

Setting it down in the saucer, she turned her head toward a noise outside, and found a black cat perched on the sill. It had the same crescent as before, though it seemed to almost glow in the light from the fingernail shaped crescent-moon.

"Hey there, how'd you get up there?" Usagi said gently. "You know what, little kitty, I think you're the only good thing that's happened to me all day." She poured a little cocoa in the saucer and set it down. "Want some? It's milk, so you'll like it." She scratched the cat behind the ears as it lapped up the treat and smiled. The cat raised its head.

"Delicious," it said in a woman's voice, "and I could say the same about you. Only good thing that's happened this week." Usagi froze. Moving very slowly, she pinched herself on the arm. Then she drew in a deep breath. _Oh no,_ thought the cat, and focused, her crescent glowing brighter.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! A cat talked! I'm going crazy!" Usagi tried to wail. She found, however that she wasn't making a sound. Finally running out of breath, she just stared at the cat, her blue eyes wide and afraid.

"I'm not going to hurt you. I'm a friend. My name is Luna," she said soothingly. "If I let you talk, will you promise not to scream?" Usagi mutely nodded. "Good," Luna said briskly, and her crescent stopped glowing. Usagi did what her mother did when upset, and took several deep breaths. It did not make her feel much better. Finally, the silence became too unbearable.

"You," said Usagi cautiously, "are a talking cat. A magical talking cat."

"Yes, I suppose. Actually, I'm a Mau."

"A mao?"

"A Mau. An alien species that greatly resembles the housecat, but smart. And some of us, like me, are magical."

"An alien magical cat? Alien. Magical. _Cat_. Are you an android like Nuku-Nuku, too?"

"Pardon?"

"Nothing... Man, I really am crazy," Usagi groaned forlornly.

"No you most certainly are not," said Luna, and then scoffed at Usagi's unchanged expression. "Do you truly believe you could think this up in your wildest dreams?" Luna asked archly.

"Okay," was the hesitant response. "If I'm not crazy then why are you here?"

"Tell me, Usagi, do you believe in magic? Or reincarnation, for that matter?"

"I…guess. I always thought it would be cool if magic were real. Lina Inverse is pretty cool, after all. I'm not sure about soul wheels or whatever it is, though."

"Here's the story," began Luna. "More than ten millennia ago, there was life on all of the planets, not just Earth."

"So Martians are real?" cut in Usagi.

"Yes, and so were Venusians, Jovians, Mercutians, all the way out to Plutons," snapped Luna. Then she recollected herself and preened a little taking great pleasure in dropping this next tidbit. "And so were Lunarians, who lived on the moon."

"The man on the moon is real?"

"Not like that!"

"Oh." Usagi motioned for her to continue.

"In fact, the Lunarians ruled almost all of the other planets, with only Earth having refused to enter the alliance."

"But they're not there now. What happened?" asked Usagi, now completely drawn in.

"Beryl happened," spat Luna. "She was a sorceress from earth who turned her fellow citizens into monsters and led an army against the Silver Millennium, wiping it out in a matter of days, before they were sealed away by Queen Serenity as she lay dying."

"Wait. If she could seal these guys away, why didn't she do that to _start_ with? Instead of, you know, letting them run wild for a few days."

"Queen Serenity was the total ruler of the whole Silver Millennium, except Earth. The center of her power was the Ginzuisho, or the Imperial-"

"Silver crystal. I'm not a _total_ idiot."

"Yes. Well, it was a powerful talisman that could accomplish almost anything. However, using it drained the life of the user, which is what killed her Majesty. She only did so when it became clear there could be no recovery; Metaria had smothered entire planets, the youma had covered almost everywhere and the senshi, as well as her daughter, had all died already." Luna saw that Usagi looked confused.

"If she died anyway, then why didn't she use it and die before anyone else did?"

"Because we were attacked by surprise! The Ginzuisho is a powerful artifact; she did not carry it around in her pocket to every ball or banquet! It took time for her to get to the crystal, and even longer to cast the _extremely complicated and delicate spell_ that killed her, sealed the Dark Kingdom, and sent the Sailor Senshi, including _you,_ to be reborn!"

"Oh. Sorry," she said meekly. There was a pause. "Um, who were the senshi again?"

"The Sailor Senshi were planetary warriors and champions of the realm: there was one for each planet. Queen Serenity knew that she couldn't completely kill Beryl's army, so she sealed them away, and magically sent the senshi's souls forward to be reincarnated at around the time the seal would break. I believe you to be one of the senshi."

"Okay... So, wouldn't I remember if I was re-icarated?" Usagi asked.

"Not immediately. Sailor M didn't remember when she was found, she's only been getting small flashes of memory back, and very sporadically." At Usagi's look she added, "That means every now and then."

"Ooooohh… Okay. Wait. Sailor M's a senshi? You know Sailor M! I'm like her biggest fan can youpleaseintroduceus?" she babbled quickly, only for Luna to hush her violently and stare at the door for a few moments.

"I don't think we've been heard, but don't be so loud."

"You were just yelling at me!"

"Hush! I'm sorry I yelled; you're right, I shouldn't have. And yes, I believe that you are a senshi like Sailor M, destined to fight the forces of darkness."

"Alright!" Usagi shouted, only to be violently hushed again, but still no one else in the house reacted. "How do I start?" Usagi asked.

"Touch my forehead." Usagi placed a finger on the crescent. Luna hummed for a moment, and then sprang into the air and did a flip, producing a brooch that fell into a surprised Usagi's hand. "That should be your transformation amulet. You use it to access your powers." _Though I don't know why it's a brooch. Aren't they usually wands of some sort? Perhaps she was someone else: a member of the guard, or some form of nobility._

"How?"

"Simply say whatever pops into your head, and you'll transform and be able to use your power. It should involve the word moon, or Lunaris, maybe." Usagi stared at it for long moments, standing up and pacing a little, before something occurred to her.

"Moon… Moon Power…" she rolled the words around in her mouth, and the something clicked. "Moon Power: Make Up!" she stated with certainty, and transformed.

The brooch burst into shining light as ribbons of power wove around the suddenly naked blonde. Then the ribbons coalesced into a uniform similar to the sailor-fuku that schoolgirls wore, with the brooch at the center of a bow on her chest. Some ribbons still flowed around her, though. Then two curled into round red gems on her hair, while another wrapped around her forehead, leaving behind a tiara. The others faded into nothingness, and Sailor Moon stood before a smiling Mau. _I guess she was a senshi after all. Not one of the regular senshi, though._

"Wonderful," Luna purred, "I never imagined I would be this lucky. Sailor Moon right off the bat." Usagi however, simply stared at herself in the mirror. She swallowed.

"This…this is real, isn't it? I sort of thought I was dreaming, but…it's real."

"Yes it's real. I believe you are Sailor Moon, leader of the senshi. I never thought I'd find someone so powerful first. Now turn back so no one walks in on us." Usagi opened her mouth to ask how, but her gems buzzed for a moment, and she heard a gravelly voice.

"But I'm not your mother, dearie. She's taking a nap in the basement. Now be a good little insect and give up your energy for Queen Beryl." The response, however, chilled Usagi to the bone.

"What—Who—How—Somebody help me!"

"That's Naru!" she shrieked. "She's in trouble! They were talking about that queen berry person." Luna arched her back.

"Beryl! I never imagined they'd be moving this fast. Quick, follow that feeling and stop that youma!" Usagi raced out the window toward the Osaka-P with Luna taking only a moment to be-spell the door before following.  
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Naru was backed into a corner, shaking with terror. Everyone in the shop had collapsed and her mother had only laughed. Only it wasn't her mother, it was something else, and when she'd thrown a chair at it the twisted thing had batted it out of the air like a beach ball.

_Oh god oh god oh god I'm going to die. Please let this be a dream, please please please let me wake up!_ She was too terrified to move, or even to speak, and she was preparing for the end, cringing away from the advancing figure, when the door burst open with a crash.

"Leave her alone! I'm Sailor Moon, and for hurting all these people, in the name of the moon, I'm going to punish you!" Exclaimed the figure loudly striking a dramatic pose. _Wow. Where did I come up with that?_ Usagi wondered for a moment. The mother-monster laughed.

"Little girl," it purred, "don't play at being a senshi. If you run away now you might live a little longer. Otherwise you'll die at the hands of Felza." It turned back to the cornered redhead, only to whirl around at the sound of footsteps in time to catch a punch to the jaw. Felza flew back several feet, flipped over a counter, and crashed into the wall. _That hurt,_ the youma realized, frightened. _ I can't rip her apart like a normal human; she could actually kill me! But…_

"Sailor slut," it purred, standing on top of the counter, "You have earned yourself a slow and painful death. Let's see how well you fight **them**." It dropped the glamour completely and called on its powers… and roared. Usagi cringed back, unnerved by its twisted form: Felza still resembled a human, but its skin was a mottled purple and hung in wrinkly folds wherever there weren't pustules oozing green slime. Suddenly, she wasn't feeling so strong.

"I mustn't run away. I mustn't runaway. I mustn't run away," she repeated desperately, feeling no braver than one of her favorite characters.

Then the first person began to move. Then the second. Suddenly all the bodies in the store were stumbling towards her, clutching and pawing. Felza smiled, dripping yellow drool as it stalked slowly forwards.

"_I mustn't run away!_ No! Stop it! Get off! Let go! Stop it stop itstopit! AAAAAAHHH!" Usagi shrieked and her hair-gems buzzed, sending out waves of power that dropped the bodies back to the ground and had Felza clutching its ears. Usagi stumbled back, panting heavily. "_Luna, what do I do_?" she shouted.

"Use your magic! You should have memories of some attack you can fight with! Just trust your feelings!"

"Right," Usagi muttered, steeling herself. _Attack, attack, how do I stop that thing? Do I just punch it? Shouldn't I have a wand or something? Sailor M has her tags that she throws, do I…_ Unconsciously, she found herself touching her tiara, which seemed almost to hum. "Moon…Tiara…Magic!" she shouted, and cast the disk of energy that was once an adornment at Felza, still doubled over from the scream. Only luck and reflexes saved the youma's life, as raised its head just in time to see the toss, and rolled off the counter to dodge.

"I can't fight like this," Felza hissed." It knew that the attack could have killed it and there was no way to win this fight. It had already tapped into the gathered life force to animate the humans—no boost would be enough to fight what was apparently a real senshi. _If she didn't want to hurt them before, then…_ Seeing the disc return to the senshi's hand, Felza whirled around and scrambled towards Naru, still huddled in the corner, aiming to take a human shield. The youma collapsed screaming halfway, however, as it seemingly sprouted roses from its knee, arm, and neck.

"True heroes shield others; to do the opposite is the height of cowardice. Such monsters deserve no mercy. Sailor Moon, attack it now!" called a previously unseen man from near the door. He wore a tuxedo and a top hat, with a party-style mask on his face.

"Moon Tiara Magic!" This time, the disk struck true, and the Youma burst into a pile of dust. "Thanks," Usagi said. "Who are you?" But the man had already vanished into the night. Usagi sighed and turned around to survey the store. "Well this is a mess," she said, and idly began picking up pieces of jewelry and returning them to the displays.

"No one died, and you won. That's good for your first time, even if that man is slightly worrying." Luna padded over to the blonde and with a slight glow, repaired the broken glass.

"U-Usagi? Is that you?" asked Naru in the corner, finally coming out of shock. The blonde froze, having thought her unconscious, and Luna's hair stood on end. The cat hissed at her charge to run.

"I-but-um-stay safe!" Usagi shouted before she bolted out the door. Her panicked run didn't end until she was across several streets, deep into the park, resting against a tree.

"She recognized me. Oh no, this is bad isn't it?"

"In the Silver Millennium the Senshi were respected members of the court; they had no need for secret identities. But now…we have no clue what Beryl is capable of, but clearly it's more than I thought. We should have had at least a week before Beryl's first attack. If the public discovers your identity, then she could as well, and could attack your family."

"But how do I hide who I am? This thing doesn't come with a mask like Sailor M's, does it?"

"I…I think I remember. It can. De-transform. Just touch the brooch on the bow." Usagi did so, and with a faint shimmer found herself back in her nightgown, holding her amulet."

"Aah! I'm half naked! Luna, how am I going to get home like this? My parents are going to flip!"

"One thing at a time. Now transform again, and focus on your need for a disguise. The magic should provide." Usagi did so, and as the ribbons of power re-formed her fuku, one twirled down around her face to form a silver party mask.

"Hey, this is like what Sailor M wears."

"Yes," agreed Luna, "after all, you both are senshi. The magic in that mask will disguise you unless you purposefully reveal your identity."

"Alright! Now how do I get home?" Luna sweat-dropped.

"You got to the attack by jumping out the windows and across the roofs. Just go back and climb back in. I glamoured the door so no one would think to check on you.

"Alright then! That's what I'll do!" Usagi began walking toward the park exit. Luna padded after.

"Excuse me, I find this is somewhat embarrassing, but I have to ask," said Luna. "What is your name? You never mentioned."

"Oops. Usagi. Tsukino Usagi."

"And I am Luna, survivor of the silver Millennium, and among the last of the Mau." And together they walked into the future.


	2. Lights, Mikes, Action!

Hello! Those of you reading this decided it was worth a chance. I thank you. This is my first story, and I accept all comments and criticism. I was going to put this AN in the first chapter, but I forgot, so I'll give you a more accurate description here, so you know what you're getting into.  
I was hit with the idea for this while reading Sage of the Toad's "Beautiful Destroyer Sailor Moon," in which Usagi took several levels in awesome. The idea is two-fold. 1) The order the senshi wake up is almost always the same in every story, (Pluto active from the beginning, Venus alone, Moon, Merc, Mars, Jup, and then the outers in a different season of Nep, Ur, Sat) and the stories that do alter it rarely change the plot because of it. This one, it starts off looking the same, but it won't stay that way. Anyone who wants to give this prompt a try on their own is more than welcome, and I look forward to reading it. 2) Rather than make Usagi awesome, I wanted to see what she would be like less sucky. She still cries, and makes mistakes, and gets hurt, but she takes her job as a hero seriously.  
Good news, also. I have suffered too many disappointments with abandoned stories, or ones with a 'wing it' plot. I won't do that. I have already plotted out the ENTIRE STORY (which ends after Beryl, though there may be a sequel) and am several chapters into writing it. Unless something huge happens, I will update at least once a week, or you are welcome to flame me for laziness.

Lastly, I don't own Sailor Moon, the characters, or any of what is portrayed in this or the previous chapter.  
+++++++++++++++++++++

"And then this man wearing a tuxedo shows up from out of nowhere and throws roses at the monster! Roses! But I grabbed one after everything was over, and they were like metal darts, except they were actually flowers," Naru explains to the enraptured audience before pausing to take a few more mouthfuls of her lunch. The Osaka-P attack had been just early enough to make this morning's papers, and everyone was ravenous for details, especially when Naru had only come in during second period, having been answering the police's questions prior.

"Do you still have it?" a boy in the year above them asked, awed instead of incredulous. Naru's face fell and she began rooting around in her backpack.

"Officer Tanaka let me keep one, since they didn't need all three for evidence, but this happened around third period." Naru pulled out a handkerchief and unwrapped to show a withered corpse of a rose, pieces of which began blowing away in even the gentle breeze.

"What about Sailor Moon, what did she do?" asked another girl.

"Hey wait," interjected Usagi, wanting to keep the focus off Sailor Moon as long as possible. "I want to hear more about this rose guy. Who is he?"

"There have been stories going around about a man they're calling Tuxedo Kamen breaking into jewelry stores, but not stealing anything," said Naru. "He actually hit our store a month ago. It might have been him, I guess."

"And Sailor Moon?" prompted another listener.

"She pulled off another shot and blasted it into dust with one shot.

"Wow, even Sailor M needs two or threes hits. What then?"

"Well she left after she realized I was still awake," said Naru. "But before that she was putting the shop back together. She actually fixed some of the broken glass with magic."

"Did you see what she looked like?" Usagi bit her lip at her classmate's question and began rehearsing the lie Luna had drilled her on in case this happened.

"No," said Naru, prompting Usagi to freeze in surprise. "She had some magic on that kept her face disguised, like Sailor M. I bet the two of them are friends or something. And that monster's magic blew out our cameras or something, so no luck there." At this point the bell rang, and Usagi had never been so happy to hear it.  
+++++++++++++++++++++

"So, Usagi," said Naru as they walked to the Crown arcade & fruit parlor after school, "how do you think you did on that re-test?"

"Better, I hope," Usagi moaned. "You're really great to wait up for me, you know. If I'd known you were going to I wouldn't have triple-checked myself like I did."

"I know: that's why I didn't tell you. And really, I need to vent about what happened last night Usagi." Usagi tensed but Naru still seemed normal, not accusatory. "I might have been crowing about it over lunch but it was the most frightened I've been in my life! You'd think seeing one of Sailor M's fights would be cool—or Sailor Moon, I guess—but it's not until you get up close and personal with a demon that you realize how nasty it is. In the manga the youma Sailor M fights are always like wild animals, but this one could talk! It even said its name was Farquhar."

"Felza," Usagi corrected absentmindedly, only to freeze as Naru whirled around, latched her hands onto Usagi's shoulders, and went nose-to-nose with her, the redhead's eyes now showing a laser-like intensity.

"I knew I wasn't hallucinating," Naru said, darkly triumphant. "So tell me, Usagi, when were you going to tell your oldest, dearest, closest friend that you were a _fucking superhero?"_ Usagi looked into her dearest friend's eyes, opened and closed her mouth a few times as the blood drained out of her face, and then her legs gave out and she plopped onto the ground.

"Luna is going to kiilll meeeee!" she wailed. Naru immediately felt horrible, and pulled her friend off the ground while a steady stream of assurances and comforts poured from her mouth. After a few moments Usagi calmed down. Then she latched her hand onto Naru's like a manacle and bolted off, dragging Naru behind her.

"Hey, slow down! Where are we going?" Naru managed to gasp out as she sprinted, already on the verge of falling.

"Home. Luna will know what to d—Oh!" Usagi had turned her head back to talk to Naru, but hadn't slowed down at all, and had run into someone.

"Are you blind, Odango Atama, or do I look like I have a target on my chest?" came the voice of none other than the same guy from yesterday.

"I'M blind?" snapped Usagi, rolling off of him. "How hard can it be to get out of our way? I've never run anyone over before and now suddenly I can't get away from you. Are you stalking me or something?"

"Stalk you? Don't make me laugh. What would I want with a girl barely out of diapers? I'd only track you down if I wanted to return your pacifier. Speaking of which, where is it? You really need one right now."

"PACIFIER? I'm surprised you know what that is. There's no way you could ever have been some woman's sweet baby boy; you were probably hatched—"

"Usagi!" shouted Naru. "Weren't we going somewhere?"

"Oh! Crud, you're right! Bye jerk wad!" Usagi took off running again, and was soon out of sight. The man just stood for a few moments before he gave a snort, and continued on his way.  
+++++++++++++++++++

"I suppose it isn't really your fault," said Luna morosely. "I didn't have time to tell you about the disguise because of the attack. But this does make things difficult."

"How?" asked Naru, shifting to follow Luna as the Mau paced around Usagi's bedroom. "I'd think it'd be easier."

"How? Easier?" repeated Luna incredulously, "If people find out who Usagi is, then the Dark Kingdom—Beryl and her soldiers—can too, and can attack her friends and family."

"Well, she's got the disguise now, so I'm the only one who knows, and I'm not telling."

"Beryl has ways of making people talk," Luna counted chillingly.

"How would _she_ know that I know? I'm not gonna shout it from the rooftops or anything." That gave Luna pause, and Naru soldiered on. "Since I know, I'm the perfect alibi. Anytime Usagi has to do Moon stuff and people wonder where she's gone, I can say she's with me. We've been best friends forever, so that isn't odd."

"That…is actually a good idea," said Luna appraisingly.

"You'd do that, Naru? You're the bestest friend ever!" Usagi squealed and initiated a BFF-glomp. There was laughing that devolved into a tickle war, until the girls pulled themselves together two minutes later.

"So," said Naru, "If I'm going to help I need all the details. Fill me in."

"Ask away," invited Luna. "But my memory isn't the best, so it may be that I cannot answer. If I can, I will."

"Well, why isn't your memory good?"

"I've spent thousands of years in magical hibernation, I think. I can't even remember entirely how I got to this era."

"Where do the sailors come from?"

"Collectively, they are called the senshi. Approximately 14,000 years ago there was life on all planets and most moons in the system, not just Earth. Moreover, it was vastly more technologically and magically advanced than Earth is now. All of the planets except Earth were joined into an alliance called the Silver Millennium, and Earth was on the verge of joining when the Fall happened."

"The Fall? Wait. What could wipe out a civilization that huge, and why haven't we found any ruins?"

"A noblewoman from Gaia—that was the name for Earth at the time—made a pact with a being known as Metaria, and summoned an army of demons. Her name was Beryl. Moreover, at full power Metaria itself was powerful enough to scythe the life off of a planet single-handedly. As to the lack of ruins…Yes, what is it Usagi? This isn't a classroom in your school." The blonde was waving her hand in the air and bouncing in place.

"I know this! I know this! Shingo watched a movie about it once. It said that if humans just vanished off the Earth, then in 1,000 years there would be no sign we ever had been here except for the stuff like the pyramids that are already really-really old. So 14 times that would leave 14 times less ruins, right?"

"Yes," said Luna. "Also, I imagine that there are some ruins, but your civilization simply doesn't have the technology to find them yet. Or they may be protected by magic, which is especially likely with the moon."

"Okay, and the senshi?" asked Naru.

"When a family becomes a planetary ruler, the planet itself recognizes them by bonding its magic to their the family's, in a very small way. Members of the family will have the planet's astrological symbol appear on their head and they gain some small token magical power: Martian royalty could conjure small fires with their will, for instance. However, from among the royal families the leader of the Silver Millennium, which was Queen Serenity at the time of the Fall, would choose one girl whom she empowered with the Ginzuisho to make them a senshi. This gave them exponentially greater magical ability, as their connection to the planet became much more powerful. The senshi were the champions of the realm, tasked with fighting evil and protecting the innocent."

"So there's one senshi for each planet, right? Does that mean that each of the moons had senshi too, since there's Sailor Moon? Will there be a Sailor Europa, or Titania?"

"I wish there were, Naru, but no. The moon, or Lunaris, as we called it, was the only non-planet with a senshi, possibly because it was the center of the Millennium, or possibly because of the Ginzuisho."

"Hey, if you had to be planetary royalty to be a senshi, does that mean that I was a moon princess?" asked Usagi.

"Oh yes, undoubtedly, but you wouldn't have been _the_ princess," clarified Luna. "It was very rare for heirs to be made senshi: if Princess Serena's father hadn't died when she was young the mantle would probably have fallen to a younger sister. As it was, you probably were a cousin of some sort. I honestly don't remember your identity, though. Or much about Sailor Moon at all: just a vague description and a different woman wearing the uniform—probably your predecessor."

"What's this Ginzuisho you keep mentioning?" asked Naru.

"The Ginzuisho was the talisman of the Lunarian royal family. It was a powerful magical crystal that was said to be capable of almost anything, but it drained the wielder's life when it was used. Queen Serenity didn't die in battle; she died using the crystal to seal the Dark Kingdom and send the senshi forward to reincarnate."

"And there are eight senshi we're looking for, counting Sailor M. Hey, what senshi is she, anyway? Mercury?"

"Her real title is Sailor Mars. She was a member of the inner senshi, who usually stayed at court as internal guardians. The inners were Mercury through Jupiter, led by Venus, and the outers were Saturn through Pluto, led by Pluto. They guarded the kingdom from external threats."

"Where do I fit in?" asked Usagi.

"As a member of the Lunarisian royal family, you would have been…the overall commander of the senshi; both Venus and Pluto took orders from Moon. I think."

"Cool," said Usagi. "So how do we find them?"

"We've already found Mars, though she won't be joining us for a few months," said Luna, "but unfortunately the inner senshi are the only ones I knew well enough to recognize. And considering that we found one senshi in England and the other in Japan, we have to rely on luck and fate, since the Ginzuisho will probably want them to be found. I have no idea how we will find Princess Serena, sadly."

"Do we need to look for her?" asked Naru. "She doesn't sound like a fighter, if you don't mind my saying so."

"Yes, we have to find her and the Ginzuisho. The Ginzuisho is the only thing that can defeat Metaria, and only the Princess can wield it. Without them we cannot win this war." Both girls were silent for a moment at this ominous statement.

"That's everything I can think of," Naru finally confessed. Usagi squared her shoulders.

"I want to know how we're going to find the next attack," Usagi said sharply. "It was just luck that I was transformed a happened to find out about it. If Luna had shown up an hour later my best friend would be _dead_." There was something in her voice, some shadow, or weight, or hidden edge, and it sent shivers up both Luna's and Naru's spines. At that moment, looking into her suddenly darker gaze, the two of them could fully believe that Usagi had once led a team of elite soldiers, and they almost felt sorry for the youma. Usagi's eyes were boring into Luna's in a way that reminded her of Queen Serenity, foggy though her memories may be, and she suddenly felt like a child given a pop quiz which will decide whether or not they pass the year.

"I-I will be s-scouting around during the day while you're in school. At nights, you can just take an hour or two to patrol in uniform to see if you sense anything. Since it clearly takes the Dark Kingdom some time to drain energy, we should catch anything they're planning."

"Right!" Usagi said brightly, dispelling the tension with her usual cheer. "So how come my parents aren't freaking out about my new cat?" The other occupants of the room exhaled, not having realized they'd been holding their breath.

"I hypnotized them into thinking they bought me last week," Luna smugly explained, beginning to groom herself. "In fact, your father will be bringing home some toys for me when he returns from work, and your mother has already stocked up on my favorite fish."

"Just hope they don't take you to be spayed" Usagi said, and grinned at the sight of Luna's hair standing on end.  
++++++++++++++++++++++

"Zoicite!" Queen Beryl's voice echoed around the cave menacingly. The effeminate man appeared in front of the throne of bone. "Where is the energy you promised me?"

"My Queen, I have good news and bad news," Zoicite said. He spent the next few moments screaming as needles of dark power slammed into him, before Beryl finally relented.

"Speak."

"My Queen, Felza was destroyed before she could deliver the energy she gathered."

"So I gathered," Beryl said archly. "You realize revelation of our existence jeopardizes everything?"

"But, your majesty, she was not destroyed by normal means, or government forces. I have reviewed the stories that the public has heard, and supposedly her killer was _Sailor Moon_." Beryl's eyes opened wide.

"Come!" she cried, and the previously silent figure materialized before the throne. "What do you know of one _Sailor Moon_?" There was a moment of contemplation where the tension was so thick it _couldn't_ be cut by a knife: it would take a chainsaw.

"…Our enemy is cunning, but they keep repeating the same tricks over and over, hoping they will work repeatedly," said the shade in a surprisingly mild voice.

"Explain. _Now_."

"First was Sailor Mars, who posed as Sailor M in England, probably hoping that we would mistake her for Princess Serena using the Letter Compact. M for Moon, not for Mars." Beryl arched an eyebrow and the soldier elaborated. "The letter compact was used to train potential senshi in their powers before they took up the mantle. It grants a normal human minor senshi powers for a short time, though a real senshi may use it indefinitely. Now they hope to lure us out again with another false target: in the past it was not uncommon for Sailor Venus to act as Princess Serena's body double. The resemblance was very strong, as their fathers were brothers."

"Is that why she led the inner senshi?" quipped Zoicite, only to begin screaming again as dark lightning arced across his form. _Note to self—keep my mouth shut when I'm not in favor._

"No," said the figure once there was quiet once again. "Venus led the inner senshi because she was vicious in unarmed combat, almost untouchable with most weapons, smart enough to ferret out well hidden secrets, cunning enough to hide her intelligence very well, and a powerful sorceress even _without_ senshi powers. Alone among all the senshi, I would not relish a fight with her. She might win, even as powerful as I am now, and my victory would certainly come at a heavy cost."

"The wonders of inside information," Beryl mused idly. "Are you certain this Moon was Venus?"

"What spells did she use?" Zoicite took a moment to pull himself off the ground before answering the question.

"According to reports, she threw a ring of energy that acted like a blade."

"Venus's signature spell was the Crescent Beam, where she fired an arc of energy. It would be child's play to shape it into a ring. It's her."

"Do you have any recommendations for dealing with her?" Beryl asked. A mute shake of the head was all the answer needed, and the figure vanished again with a dismissive wave of Beryl's hand. "Now, Zoicite, I hope your good news is very good."

"Not only do we know that the Ginzuisho will be in Tokyo if it is not already, but it is likely the Moon Princess is as well."

"You found the little slut?"

"It can be reasonably deduced." Zoicite swallowed at the building madness in his queen's gaze. "In London, it took some time for Sailor M to locate our activities, and we recouped some energy before that happened. Here, they were on us before we could even set up an official operation, much less a spur-of-the-moment attack taking only a few hours. Thus, the senshi must have been in Tokyo before we arrived, while Sailor M had to travel to London to engage us. This would only be the case if they were guarding something important: either the Princess or the Ginzuisho. But not both, or they would have gone on the offensive already before Great Metaria regained full power. Furthermore, Venus was the head of the Princess's personal guard. She would not be separated from her charge if she could avoid it." Beryl considered this.

"Good enough to at least buy you a stay of execution, Zoicite," she decided stonily. "Kunzite is out and about, Nephrite is scrying, and Jadeite is maintaining and managing our wards and standard operations. You are in charge of gathering energy. Don't disappoint."  
++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Strawberry milkshake, please, Motoki. And aspirin if you have it." The blond teen behind the counter looked at his pseudo-little sister in concern.

"Are you okay, Usagi?" he asked, giving her the shake. "You haven't been in here since Monday, and that headache has me worried. Or did you just get grounded because of the bad test you mentioned." Usagi shot him a forced grin.

"I bombed the test but re-took it Wednesday. The headache is just because my classmates have gone crazy. Have you heard about the Rising Star contest?"

"No, not really."

"Mikan-Mikan has announced that she's hosting a competition to scout out rising talent," explained Naru, slipping onto the stool beside Usagi. "At least half the school has signed up for it, and everyone was practicing their acts all day. Their very _bad_ acts. Umino is still doing some karaoke song in the schoolyard. The teachers all pretty much gave up on teaching today, so instead of our usual homework we were assigned big projects due in a week instead of regular work. They figure it'll all blow over after the contest happens on Sunday. Vanilla shake, please."

"Was it really that bad?" asked Motoki. Usagi shot him a look and answered.

"Mrs. Haruna called me a model student today: quiet, attentive, and sensible." Motoki didn't say anything: words could not describe how disturbed he was. He just passed them a bottle of aspirin and Naru's order.

"So where are you patrolling tonight?" Naru whispered.

"I'll see if Luna's found anything yet. She's getting nervous that something big is coming. Or worse, that they might have moved cities again, since we haven't found anything the last two nights."

"Mamoru, it's about time! Who's the friend?" called Motoki to someone coming in the door. Usagi craned her head around; she'd heard Motoki mention his friend Mamoru but they'd never met. Her stomach sank when she saw the two people entering. _Please be the blond, please be the blond, _please_ be the blond._

"Professor Kagaku announced that we wouldn't be doing anymore labs this month, so I'll be coming by early more often," replied the dark-haired young man Usagi had run into too many times. Against all odds, she'd barreled into him on the way to school yesterday too, prompting a screaming match that made her five minutes late. She buried her head in her arms in an attempt to hide. "Instead, we're doing long-term projects with a partner. This is Haruka," Mamoru said, indicating the blond young man beside him, "he's partnered with me for the rest of the term." Mamoru took the free seat on Usagi's right, her plan to hide having worked too well, and Haruka the seat on his right.

"Naru, switch seats with me," Usagi growled, and Mamoru finally noticed her.

"Well look who we have here, Odango Atama. Don't you think you should be studying instead of stuffing your face?" He gave a condescending grin.

"I'll have you know I got an 83 on the re-test," she snapped.

"That's good," he complimented, and her stomach did a little flip. "Just hope they don't give you an eye test and you might pass the year."

"You know each other?" Motoki cut in, defusing Usagi's explosive reply.

"I've had a few…run ins, let's say, with Odango here."

"My name is _Usagi_," she countered through gritted teeth. "Motoki I've heard about your friend Mamoru, but I never thought he'd be this big a jerk! How are you friends with a slimy sleaze-bag like this… thing!?"

"We've known each other about as long as you and Naru have," he explained with a shrug, looking amused.

"I guess that's the only way a guy like him could _have_ friends. Jerk."

"Odango, Odango, Odango," Mamoru sing-songed cheerfully only for Haruka to pull him off his stool and steal it. "Oof!"

"You're a kindergartener at heart, Chiba," Haruka smirked at him. "Are you going to pull her pigtails next?" Then he turned to the girl in question and she nearly swooned. _Oh hotness_. "He's actually a cool guy once you know him well enough, though he must be blind to pick on a cutie like you, Koneko. Mind if I call you that? Kitten fits you much better than meatball head." Haruka lightly ran his fingers through Usagi's hair and she, blushing furiously, found herself arching into them like the kitten he'd called her.

"I knew you were a flirt Haruka, but really. A middle-schooler?" groused Mamoru, taking Haruka's former stool.

"HIGH SCHOOL FRESHMAN!" shrieked Usagi.

"Sorry," Mamoru apologized, seeming sincere. He wasn't. "I didn't realize they let people that young into high-school. I'd ask if you skipped a grade, but that test…"

"I'm 14! Demon-spawn jerk!" Usagi snapped, downing the rest of her shake. Then she grabbed her bag and flounced out the door, an amused Naru following.  
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Sailor Moon stood in the darkness, staring at the building Luna had led her to.

"Hey, look at the signs. Is this where Mikan-Mikan's contest is?" She squinted at the poster announcement. "Are you sure you smelled a youma here?"

"Yes," Luna responded. "If people are competing here, then they'll be producing a lot of energy for the Dark Kingdom to steal. Possibly this Mika person is in league with the Dark Kingdom."

"No way! She's been a pop-idol since I was eleven! She can't be ev—ow!" Usagi yelped at Luna's quiet-down scratch, and listened. "My jewels aren't picking up anything, I think. If they're working right."

"Then she may have been replaced, like your friend's mother. Are you sure you don't pick up anything?" Usagi closed her eyes and tapped the gems lightly, setting off a quiet ringing. She focused on the theatre and heard the quiet scurry of mice, the hum of the electronic security system, and…nothing.

"Nothing," she confirmed. "Maybe it's a false alarm?" Luna gave her scathing look. "Well, maybe it won't be back until the actual contest? Wait…shouldn't there be a security guard or something?"

"A quick look shouldn't hurt, and might help," Luna suggested. Usagi agreed.  
++++++++++++++++++++++

"So was that guy a youma?" Naru asked quietly as she and Usagi walked away from signing up for the contest.

"No, just a normal human," Luna concluded. They sat down on a bench in the park and Luna curled up on Usagi's lap to be petted. Naru glanced around and saw no one nearby.

"So we have until tomorrow to plan how we're going to do this," Naru said.

"And to practice our acts so we win!" Usagi chirped.

"It's probably safest if Usagi goes in already as Sailor Moon and waits until the draining starts so we can identify the youma. It might not be Mikan, after all."

"But wouldn't people recognize me? Not me Usagi, but me Sailor Moon?"

"Your picture hasn't been taken yet, and Naru didn't describe you, so no, only the youma could recognize you. But since we don't want you to be recognized later, either, you go in as Sailor Moon disguised as Usagi." There was a pause.

"How do I do _that_?" Usagi asked. Luna smirked, and wiggled out of her arms before flipping into the air.

"With this," she said, as Usagi caught a pink—Pen? Wand? Plastic stick?—that appeared and fell. "This is one of the few Silver Millennium artifacts that was saved: the Disguise Pen. You can use it to make yourself look like anyone you wish, anyway you wish"

"Can I use it too, or only senshi?" Naru asked immediately.

"Most Silver Millennium tools could be used temporarily by anyone, but only someone with magic could use one for long periods of time."

"So just senshi?" Naru prompted.

"No, plenty of people were natural sorcerers. Still are, probably, but lacking the ability to train or even recognize their talents. And before you ask, I don't know how to test you, I don't know if you are, and I wouldn't be able to train you properly if you were. Also, the Dark Kingdom might sense a budding mage and, _at best_, try to recruit you. Now, the plan…"

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I am super pop-star, Mikan-Mikan! Welcome to the Rising Stars Contest!" The crowd went wild at the young woman's announcement, accompanied by a shower of glitter and indoor fireworks. "We have here today an assortment of up-and-coming talent for your perusal, with the winners getting a series of performances sponsored by me: Mikan-Mikan! And now I'd like to introduce our judges! First off is my own manager, Yasora Kumo!" Hypnotized human number one walked on stage and sat at the judges' table. "Second off is a the man who first recruited me as new talent, Tohaku Marudo!" Cue hypnotized human number two. "And lastly, leading the judges is my close personal friend, the talent scout Zenmatsu Takai!" Zoicite walked on stage, dressed as a male for once, and sat at the judges' table. The youma Cristra, disguised as Mikan-Mikan, handed him the mike.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have a show for you today," he said smoothly. "First we'll see the individual acts of our contestants, then for the finale we'll have them all performing together on stage as they take turns performing solos. You, the audience, will vote for them with your screams and applause. The louder you are, the more points they get." _And the more energy you produce for the Dark Kingdom,_ he finished mentally. "And now for our first act, please welcome Umino and Akira!"

Usagi was wandering around backstage, having slipped away from the room where the contestants waited their turn after she and Naru had done a duet.

"Find anything new?" came Naru's voice from communicator/hand-mirror Luna had given them.

"No, but I may be onto something. I called it quits before I explored this area, but…" She walked into a T-intersection in the hall and cocked her head, glad that her gems were also blocking out the contest noise. "There's like a patch of silence over here that's _too_ silent. You know, like when the computer's on but it's a screen-saver? Found it." She opened a closet door, forcing the lock, and froze at the sight revealed. "Oh crap ohcrapohcrap! Naru, Mikan-Mikan is the youma! The real one is in here covered in glass. She's alive, I think, but it's that suspension anime thing."

"Suspended animation? Try using your tiara to shave off the crystal," Luna suggested. "If not that, the sound."

"Moon Tiara Magic," Usagi muttered, not throwing the ring but touching it to the crystal. When it came close the glassy substance simply evaporated. "Hey, it's working!" She waved the ring around the idol and in a few moments she was free.

"Usagi, it's time for the big finale. I'm hiding and not going on stage; this has to be when they do the drain! I'll try to get into position."

"I'm coming! I'm keeping an eye on Mikan, too," Usagi hissed and grabbed the idol bridal style, dropping the disguise. She quickly retraced her steps—noting the eerie quiet—and came to the side of the stage in time to se the last of the performers fall over, unconscious. The audience and judges also appeared to be out of it.

"Who you?" came a sleepy question from the now semi-conscious idol.

"Sailor Moon, and I'm here to save everyone." Usagi put the idol down in the wings and raced onto the stage. "Moon Tiara Magic!"

"Get down," yelled someone off to her side, and the youma twisted aside.

"You abused these people's hopes and dreams, and in the name of the Moon I'm going to punish you!"

"Well I am Cristra, and in the name of Queen Beryl I'm going to kill you!" snarled the youma, dropping its disguise. It looked like a human-sized T-rex with a humanoid face, only bright orange with clear crystal splotches, and Usagi's gut churned.

"Moon Tia—" Usagi jerked back as she caught movement in the corner of her eye, tripping to the ground but rolling away anyway. The bolt of dark power flew past where her head had been. She had just enough time to pull herself into a crouch before a stream of clear goop sprayed onto her right side, covering the arm and leg with hardening crystal. Her tiara was in her right hand.

"Well, well, well," said a man with long blond hair in a gray uniform. "We've caught ourselves a sailor slut. Don't bother struggling, that crystal could survive atmospheric re-entry. And you can't use your pretty tiara either."

"Who are you?" Usagi asked, trying to buy time. She could free her arm with her tiara, he didn't know it vaporized the crystal apparently, but that would leave her leg still stuck. He had to be close enough that he couldn't dodge.

"You don't recognize me? I'm hurt. I am General Zoicite, one of her majesty Queen Beryl's Shittennou. How does it feel to know that your failure has doomed the world? Cristra, show her our spoils!" The youma came forward, holding a ball of glowing mist in its hand. "All of this energy is going to be given to Metaria, who will place all of you humans where you belong: in the dust!"

"Aren't you human?" she asked, trying to keep his attention on her. Naru should be moving into position soon…

"Not anymore," he laughed. "Now do you have any last words? I'll give you a few seconds to pray before I kill you." He formed a crystal spear and Usagi bowed her head and muttered something. "All done?" Then he screamed as roses rained down from above. "My face!" he screeched.

"—Magic!" she yelled and she swung her suddenly free arm around, barely missing Zoicite but releasing the tiara straight into and through Cristra.

"No!" shrieked Zoicite as the energy dissipated, streaming back to its owners. He whirled on the trapped girl, prepared to run her through, only to take a ten-pound sandbag to the face and stumble back, stunned. A follow-up blitz of three roses hit, one sticking into his shoulder.

"Those who pursue their dreams with dedication shall always prevail! Such stars burn with the brightest of lights, bringing joy and hope to all. To take advantage of such hopes is unforgivable," called Tuxedo Kamen. The tiara returned to Moon. "Sailor Moon, let faith and truth be your guides!"

"Moon Tiara Magic!" Usagi yelled, cutting her leg free and throwing the disk at Zoicite. Just as he prepared to dodge, she screamed.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

Zoicite didn't dodge, but the sound knocked him on his back, so it still missed. However, five roses thudded down, pinning Zoicite to the ground.

Sailor Moon ran off on a diagonal to catch her tiara and make distance, and Naru, hidden on the catwalk, threw down a second sandbag. Zoicite saw it coming, and thought _Not the face! Screw this; I'll try again later._ He teleported away.

"Hey! Where'd he go?" Usagi asked, and listened for him with her gems. "I think he's gone," she called up to Naru. "And so is the tuxedo guy." The redhead waved and vanished to the stairs. Usagi began pulling the contestants into some form of order, grateful that they had mostly fallen further upstage, away from the fight. _Keeping them out of the way would have been a nightmare. Why didn't we think of that before?_

"What now?" asked Naru.

"We can't just leave them here," said Usagi. "I'll borrow a cell phone and call the hospital. I'll wait for an ambulance before I leave, just to be safe. You go on and tell Luna what happened. Ask her what kind of medical treatment you need for drained energy, and tell me over the communicator."

"All my mom needed was sleep and food," Naru volunteered. "The hospital is a good idea though. You're really getting more responsible, Usagi."

"Sailor Moon," Usagi corrected, fiddling with her disguise mask. "And you won't be saying that when you see how little I've done for my part of the project."

"Since you just saved a bunch of people, I'll pick up the slack just this once, lazy-bones," Naru teased, before she turned and raced off to report in person to Luna, who was waiting a few blocks away. Usagi smiled softly and started rifling through pockets.

"I don't know who he is, but I want to find out," she murmured with a soft smile, thinking of Tuxedo Kamen, and not the unknown man who attempted to murder her.


	3. Carnivals and Weddings: Why so blue?

I don't own Sailor Moon.  
++++++++++++++++

"I'm very proud of you, Usagi," Luna said as they lounged in Naru's bedroom, not wanting to hang around the Tsukino house too much. "After following you that first day I felt that I'd have my work cut out for me, turning you into a capable senshi. Even knowing you were Moon I confess I had my doubts. But you've not only defeated two youmas, you've faced down one of Beryl's generals! I must confess that I'm sorry I ever doubted you: you've blown my expectations out of the water. You were wonderful as well, Naru." The redhead beamed, but Usagi was openly staring at Luna as though she didn't believe her eyes. Or ears, in this case.

"Wonderful? Luna, do you _realize_ how many things almost went wrong with this youma? I had _nightmares _when I took a nap after we got back! It was luck that I found Mikan, it was luck that my tiara melted the crystal, and it was luck that I didn't killed!"

"What makes you think that?" asked Luna.

"Starting from the top? I might not have found Mikan, which means that I wouldn't have known my tiara could melt the crystal, which we didn't know it could do and it maybe wouldn't have. I might not have rolled away from that general's attack, since I didn't know he was there, and that would have ended the fight. What if people had been in the way when we fought and got hurt? Or held hostage! Or I might not have had my tiara in my hand when I got glassed, so I couldn't have escaped. That's what would have happened if they hadn't waited for me to finish talking. My tiara might not have been able to melt the crystal and I would have been trapped. That general might not have gloated, which wouldn't have given Naru time to get into position, or he might not have given me the chance to say the spell. The energy might not have been recovered by dusting the youma, so they still would have won and everyone would be in trouble. What if Tuxedo Kamen hadn't appeared? What if instead of teleporting wherever the general had just moved across the room and kept fighting! What if he'd teleported straight up and attacked Naru!? Killed her!" She stopped, panting for breath. Naru laid a hand on her friend's shoulder and spoke.

"I'm so glad my parents are out. Are you done ranting?" Usagi nodded mutely, panting.

"First off," began Luna, "_I_ knew that killing the youma would release the energy. I'd also like to point out that while you mentioned the many ways you could have lost, you forgot the ways you could have won."

"That sandbag to the head from that height would have killed most normal people, or at least knocked them for a loop," Naru contributed. "Also, I'm flattered that you never considered that _I_ might mess up and cost us the fight. What if I'd missed?"

"Don't give her more ammunition," cut in Luna. "But what if the youma hadn't dodged your first tiara? What if the general hadn't been there; this is the first time one has shown up since M started fighting. What if you had hit him when you broke out of the crystal? What if he hadn't teleported? And I'm confident that you didn't need that man's help. In fact, I'm starting to get a little worried about him."

"What do you mean?"

"He's shown up at each attack, but only part-way into it. He's hurt the youma, but not seriously, and only once we're already winning. And to be quite frank, he reminds me of descriptions of Ace. I think he may be working for the Beryl."

"What? No way!" objected Usagi.

"Who's Ace?" asked Naru.

"Don't you read the manga?" Usagi squealed.

"Ace was a man who fought alongside Sailor M much the same way this Kamen is doing right now. He approached her secret identity with his, as well, worming his way into her good graces. She thought it was destiny that brought them together. It turned out that he was secretly working for the Dark Kingdom. When he sprung his trap it was only the manifestation of a previously untapped power that saved Mars' life. I heard that there was still some left-over effect, too…"

"…It's possible," Naru conceded.

"I guess, but something in me really disagrees. I think he's on our side," Usagi said. At the looks from the others she amended, "He _sounds_ like what Luna said, but I think there's more going on. And wasn't he around before the first attack? Okay, he may have some connection to the Dark Kingdom, but if anything I think that he's a traitor working against them."

"We'll just have to wait and see," Naru concluded. "Now about that project…"

"Hold on. I want to hear more about these general guys. What's the deal with them? He said he wasn't human _anymore_, so does that mean he used to be?" Luna was quiet for a long moment before folding.

"As I said, Beryl is the leader of the Dark Kingdom. She was originally human, and from Gaia—sorry, Earth—and changed when she made her pact. The generals, if I remember correctly, were skilled warriors and high-ranking members of the Gaian nobility who acted as guards to the royal family. I remember that there were at least some professional ties between the senshi and the generals, called the shittennou, but I don't know what they were or whether or not it was faked on their parts. They may have been with Beryl from the beginning, or they may have changed sides only at the end."

"Alright. Now can we work on our project? We can't fight evil if we're in detention," Naru pointed out.

"Uh, oh yeah! Heh, heh, heh…"  
++++++++++++++++++

"Can you mix a chocolate and banana shake, Motoki? It's a special occasion," said Usagi as she slid onto a stool. She waved over three of her classmates who had just come in the door. "Takeshi, Umino, Sakura! Come over and have a shake! I'm buying."

"What's the occasion?" asked Sakura as the three took the stools and gave their orders. Umino grabbed the one nearest to Usagi and smiled dopily at her, edging in a bit too close. She let him, since they were friends, even if she didn't have the heart to make clear that she wasn't interested. Even if she were, Naru had been crushing on him since they were eleven. _And I'm the oblivious one?_

"You know how I turned in that big project today for extra credit? Well Ms. Haruna actually called home to tell my parents, 'cause it's so different from what I normally do. So when I got home, my mom gave me some cash and told me to go out and celebrate." The other three responded with various thanks and congratulations.

"What's going on here?" came the sound of a voice Usagi hated. She turned to face Mamoru Chiba, also known as the demon.

"I guess the devil will come even if you don't think of him," she grumbled. "I did super well on a project _and_ turned it in early so I'm celebrating."

"Really," came a second voice accompanied by fingers running through her hair. "Congratulations, Koneko," said Haruka as Usagi flushed red. Umino glared.

"Oh my god, Usagi, how do you know two really hot guys and can you please introduce us?" blurted out Sakura. Realizing what she said, she blushed an even brighter red than her blonde friend.

"Mamoru-baka is not hot!" snapped Usagi, prompting an overly dramatic groan of pain from him.

"So why did you immediately think of him instead of Motoki?" asked Haruka, taking the seat on the other side of Mamoru, trapping him and Usagi together.

"Excuse me," interrupted Umino's nasally voice. "Aren't you a little _old_ for Usagi? People don't really have nice names about guys who go after younger girls."

"What would I want with a kid as flat as a board?" drawled Mamoru. Said 'kid' turned bright red, puffed up, and opened her mouth.

"Other than her being cute as a button?" asked Haruka, cutting off Usagi's furious response. "Don't freak out, kid, we're not that serious. And even if we were, I'm only eighteen, and this guy skipped a grade, smart bastard, so he's seventeen. It's not _that_ big a difference." Haruka grinned cheekily as Umino's eyebrow twitched, causing Sakura and Usagi to blush again.

"So where's Naru?" Motoki asked Usagi as he brought over the drinks. "It's rare to see you separate."

"She has piano lessons every Monday, Motoki. We're not attached at the hip, you know."

"I know, I just forget sometimes. Changing the subject, is anyone going to the circus?" asked Motoki, pulling out a few flyers. "I've got a bunch of flyers that landed on my doorstep with payment of two free tickets to hand them out. It's on Friday, and it looks like the tickets are really cheap." He passed them out to various murmurs of interest. Usagi paled and bit back a yelp. Front and center on the page was Zoicite as the ringmaster.

"Yeah, I think I'll go," said Umino. "It'll be good to remind my mom that she can let me out of her sight without bad stuff happening." This comment garnered a lot of curious looks. "Didn't you hear about what happened at the contest yesterday? A gas leak knocked everyone out. That's the official story anyway…" Everyone except Usagi, who was trying not to look conspicuous and failing, leaned in to listen. "I think it was really a youma attack like with Sailor M or at the Osaka-P. Everyone just collapsed where they were; there was no odd smell or choking or anything. I just got really sleepy in the middle of my song and woke up in the hospital."

"Were you hurt?" asked Takeshi.

"No, just tired and really hungry. Everyone else was the same. Isn't that what happened with Sailor M? And what's more, Mikan-Mikan said that she'd been attacked by some monster and didn't remember any of the past few days, not arranging the contest or anything. She swears she woke up to find Sailor Moon carrying her to the wings of the stage. And the guy whose cell phone was used to call for help was unconscious already, _and_ his cell phone was lying on the judges' table. There are even stories that Sailor Moon called down a greeting to the ambulance when it arrived, but no one would say for sure." Everyone was quiet as they digested this.

"Hey, Usagi, weren't you and Naru at the contest too?" asked Sakura.

"I got, uh, you know, _cramps_, so me and Naru left early. I guess that was lucky, huh?" Usagi said hastily.

"I wonder if there were really monsters and stuff?" pondered Haruka.

"There are more things in Heaven and Earth…" quoted Mamoru, prompting laugh from Haruka. "I can believe it's at least possible, although I wouldn't mind more evidence."

"You know, I would have guessed that you'd be one of the strongest deniers, Chiba," Haruka chuckled.

"Well, speaking of Sailor M and youma, we've got a new game just in. Who wants to try?" asked Motoki.

"Dibs!" called Usagi and was off like a shot.  
+++++++++++++++++

"Alright, Usagi, that's enough for tonight," called Luna, returning from her scouting. Since they knew where the next attack would be Usagi didn't need to scout at night, so Luna had used the hour for her to practice her scout skills in the park, mostly with her tiara. "I found where they're setting up the tent for the performance. It reeked of youma."

"Alright," said Usagi, clapping gleefully, "we know where they're going to be so we have three days to plan our plan. It won't be as crazy as before."

"I keep telling you, you've been doing quite well. No, don't argue, it won't get us anywhere. Just accept the compliment. Now show me what you've done."

"Mostly I've just been aiming it, but I got one big thing to happen. Moon Tiara Magic!" She tossed the ring lazily at the bush she'd been scalping the past few minutes, and then flicked her wrist again. The tiara sped into a blur before zooming back around and into her hand.

"Were you changing the speed?"

"Soooort of. I think I was changing the direction. Doing that made it go more forward, so it sped up, but I can make it go to the side too. No zigzagging, though. And up and down don't work that well either." _I'm just glad Luna didn't see me spending ten minutes trying to get it out of that tree._

"Any growth is good growth," said Luna. "Now let's head back. Bed time."  
+++++++++++++++++++++

"I'M LAAATE!" Usagi wailed, racing to school. It was two days to go before the circus fight, and Usagi had stayed up late trying to plan for it, only fail to accomplish anything except sleep deprivation. Then she'd run into that Mamoru-baka again and they'd gotten two minutes into another fight before she heard the bell ring. She bolted through the door and up the stairwell. "Ohcrudohcrudohcru—" THWUMP. She'd just run over another person. Hopefully it wasn't a teacher; that had happened once.

"Aagh. Did I try the high dive again?" The voice was groggy, female, strange, but definitely young. Not a teacher.

"Are you okay? I'm really, really, _really_ sorry 'bout this, I should have been more careful," Usagi said, pulling herself up to find a bluenette splayed out on the ground, her backpack's contents scattered around them. "Oh no! I'm really sorry about that I should have been looking hereletmehelp!" Usagi babbled, scrambling to collect the girl's papers and give her a hand up.

"Thanks," she replied quietly. "Actually, could you help me? I need directions to class."

"New kid?" A mute nod was all the reply given. "Yeah, sure, I'd be happy to help. I'm late already, so, it can't hurt. Which classroom?"

"303. The office said the teacher is named Ms. Haruna." Usagi stared at her. "Ummm…"

"Nothing bad," Usagi assured the girl quickly. "Just, what are the odds we'd be in the same class? I'm Tsukino Usagi."

"Well, depending on the number of students, the number of classrooms, and the grade distribution curve among incoming transfer students, as well as the method for assigning classes, the odds should be around 3.5%, with a margin of error of .09%. Wait…that was a hypothetical question, wasn't it?" Usagi just looked at her dumbly. "Sorry…my name is Mizuno Ami."

"Did you really do that in your head?" Ami raised her binder to shield her face, but nodded mutely. "That was really, really cool," Usagi said bluntly, still slightly shocked. Ami peered out from behind the binder cautiously. "Can you teach me how to do that?"

"It's just math," the bluenette said quietly. "Ah…shouldn't we get to class?"

"Class? Oh, right! Class!" Usagi promptly dragged Ami to the dragon's lair.

"Late again, Usagi?" asked Ms. Haruna. Usagi opened her mouth to reply.

"She was showing me around after I dropped my books," Ami voiced quietly from behind the blonde. Ms. Haruna smiled, seeing the newcomer.

"Oh! I was wondering where our new transfer student had gone. You're excused, Usagi; take your seat. And if you could introduce yourself to the class…"

"Hello," Ami said quietly, still holding her binder like a shield. "My name is Mizuno Ami. I transferred here from Enkai Academy." There was a lot of murmuring here, as that was a well-known private boarding school. "I like studying. Um…I also like…reading, drawing and swimming? I'm studying to be a physician, like my mother. Nice to meet you."  
+++++++++++++++

"Hey, do you mind if we join you?" Usagi asked. Ami looked up from her lunch and saw her and Naru smiling at her.

"I wouldn't mind," she said with a slight smile.

"Great!"

"I'm Osaka Naru," Naru added as Usagi plopped down under the tree.

"Mizuno Ami. Pleasure to meet you."

"And this is Gurio Umino," Usagi added, seeming to almost pull the geek out of thin air. "He's a bit weird, but he's really smart too, and I've known him forever."

"Ah, Usagi," he stuttered out, blushing. _She's got her arm around me! It's like…_ and he trailed off into a small fantasy of him and the blonde hugging, dating, kissing, getting married, and having a family.

"Sit down," Naru said sharply, dragging him down by the ear. If she pulled a little harder than necessary, well, it had nothing to do with being jealous. Really. Nothing at all. She scowled to hide her blush and scooted a little closer to the glasses-wearing geek, so that their knees were touching. He was still looking at Usagi. _Damn her for being so likable!_

"So how do you like it here?" the blonde asked with a bright smile. Ami felt herself shyly return it.

"It seems nice so far. Better than my old school, at least."

"Wait, really?" Naru asked, shocked. "You said you came from Enkai Academy, right? How's this better? I mean, Enkai is one of the best schools in the country, with all sorts of politicians sending their kids there, right? This old place isn't really bad, but it's, well, average. Public school, you know what I mean? I'm rambling, aren't I?"

"Yup," Usagi agreed, helping herself to a bit of the distracted redhead's lunch. Ami's eyes darkened a little.

"You sound like you know a lot about it," she said quietly, dodging the question. Naru blushed a little.

"My mom was actually considering sending me there, if we could swing it, but the divorce pretty much wrecked that idea," she admitted. "I wasn't that enthusiastic about leaving my friends, so I guess some good came out of it."

"Are you going to eat that?" Usagi asked, pointing her chopsticks at the sweet potato dumpling Ami's chopsticks had been holding idly and not moving toward her mouth. The other two girls blinked at the non sequitur and shifted mental gears.

"Take it, I have plenty," Ami said. Usagi, rather than pass it between chopsticks, (which is considered impolite) darted her head forward and nipped it up with mouth before anyone else could blink. Umino blushed a little at what he saw as an indirect kiss, _and with another girl, too! The only thing better would be if it was a direct kiss. With me! Although I wouldn't mind seeing it with Naru, either…Gah! Bad thoughts!_ His eyes drifted down to his own lunch, and he picked up a small mochi.

"Usagi, d-do you want this?" he asked. She smiled brightly and darted forward again to nip it up. _Yes! Indirect kiss! I can die happy, now._

"So anyway," Naru said, getting back on track while wishing Umino would offer her something, too, "Enkai is really high-class. Why do you say this place is better?" Ami squirmed a little, and took as much time chewing as she could. Naru didn't notice, trying to get Umino's attention with her gaze.

"Um, well…" she began hesitantly.

"Naru, let her dodge the question if she doesn't want to answer," Usagi said absently. "Hey where did you get those dumplings, anyway? From a store, or were they home-made?"

"M-my mother and I made a batch the last time she had a day off from the h-hospital," Ami answered, surprised at the mood whiplash, and that Usagi had read her that well. Naru blushed.

"Sorry. I didn't realize I was making you that uncomfortable. I'm usually pretty good at telling. So, your mom's a doctor?"

"Yes. Mostly she does surgery at Juuban General, but she does a little general practice if they don't need her for surgery, and she'll occasionally help out at Ishida Hospital as well. It doesn't leave her with a lot of free time, but we enjoy what we have."

"Sounds cool," Usagi said. "You need a decade of school to be a doctor, right? Ugh. I could never do it."

"Not quite a decade, but it is rather intense," Ami agreed.

"Some people have done it in as little as five years," Umino said. "In fact, the record youngest doctor graduated medical school at age 17. A lot to live up to, huh?"

"Scary," Naru agreed. Then the bell rang, and they all packed up to head inside.

"Hey, Ami, do you know the Crown?" Usagi asked. The bluenette shook her head. "Great! Do you want to come with me and Naru after school and we'll show you around?" Ami smiled.

"I'd like that very much."  
+++++++++++++++++

"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen! The Crystal Circus is pleased to have such an audience! For our opening night we promise a performance you will never forget." Usagi rolled her eyes at the announcement, but everything from the neck down was tense and coiled. They had decided to repeat last time's plan with a few twists. Usagi was in senshi form disguised as a civilian, waiting for the draining to start. Naru was waiting outside the tent with Luna, as the Mau had said it was likely that everyone in the tent would be drained. Usagi would inform them via communicator when the attack began so that they could provide backup. Now it was just a matter of time.

"Here come the clowns!" And suddenly there was a violet flash, and Usagi suddenly realized that she was the only one still awake. She saw glowing streamers begin pulling off of everyone, toward the paint-faced figure in the middle ring. "Foolish mortals! Imime will be your downfall," chortled the fat clown. Usagi activated her gems to eavesdrop.

"I've put the cattle to sleep, now put up the barrier," snapped Zoicite. Imime glowed for a moment, and then the tent walls began glowing.

"Guys, it's happening," Usagi hissed into the communicator. She realized with a start that the screen was blank and silent. "Guys? Oh no." _This isn't good. I'm alone and that General guy is here too. If he catches me I'm toast._

"Will this be strong enough to keep out the senshi?" she heard Zoicite ask the black and white figure.

"Yes master," said Imime, clapping its four, large Mickey Mouse hands together. Usagi wanted to attack now, but she needed to know what she was dealing with, and she couldn't handle Zoicite on her own. "There is no way for them to penetrate the tent to stop me. Even if they attack, I can dip into this energy to strengthen it."

"Do so sparingly," warned Zoicite. We need this energy for our glorious leader. I am going to oversee our next operation. I will return in one hour, by which time you should have had every one of these insects drained dry. I will not tolerate laziness." The youma bobbed up and down excitedly, and Zoicite teleported away. Usagi stayed still for a minute, not believing her luck.

"Is he?" _He's gone. I can do this. I can do this!_ She got up and crept towards the center while the youma's back was turned. "Moon Tiara Magic," she hissed and sent the disk of death spinning at the youma's back. She watched as it hummed closer, until only two feet away it bounced off a glowing blue shield.

"WHAT!" she shrieked, bolting to her feet as the tiara fell to the ground. Imime swung around and looked directly at her, alerted to her exact location by the yell. _Me and my big mouth._

"Little rat, how did you scurry past my shield?" it questioned. "No matter. Your little toys will never hurt me; my barriers are the strongest of any youma." Leering sickly, Imime hopped off of its perched and began waddling towards her, its tiny feet disappearing under its teardrop shaped bulk. Usagi thought for a moment that it would move faster if it walked on its four long arms like Doc Oc. Then she realized sickly that it was between her and her tiara, which was still on the ground.

"I'm warning you…" she threatened with false bravado. _Crud, crud, crud! I need to get to my tiara! I'll try running around; this guy's really slow._ She sprinted off on a diagonal only for her world to flash with pain. "Owie," she said quietly, before realizing she was on the ground and shooting up.

"Don't move, little mouse. Lord Zoicite will be so pleased when I give him your head as a gift." Usagi's stomach roiled, and she drew in a deep breath.

"AAAAAAAHHHH!" she screamed, and the youma flinched and threw up a spherical barrier to stop the sound waves from hitting. It rippled under the assault but didn't break. Usagi dashed forward again only to run into another wall five feet away. _So close!_ she thought as her head spun. She desperately threw out her hand as Imime waddled closer and to her surprise the tiara thunked into it. "Moon Tiara Magic!" Once again the ring flew true, only to bounce off another barrier.

"That won't work…" taunted the youma. A blue circle appeared between its hands for a moment and with a flash Usagi was tumbling end over end across the ground. _Ow. What bus hit me? Wait; did that guy just shoot a wall at me? No fair!_

"How does that feel?" crooned Imime. Another circle flashed between its hands but instead of being thrown backwards she found herself flying through the air. _Not flying, carried._ She realized with a start that Tuxedo Kamen had scooped her out of the way.

"Thanks," she croaked.

"I could not allow a lady to be treated like a rag doll," he said with a smile. Usagi felt her heart do a flip. Then her stomach did a flip as Kamen jumped to avoid another blast. "I would have been here sooner, but the walls would not allow me to pass. I had to use the roof." He jumped again.

"Did you see a cat and a girl out there?"

"Yes." Another leap.

"Could you bring them in here?"

"Would they be of help?"

"Point. Can you get my tiara?"

"Almost certainly, if you can dodge the attacks or distract it."

"STOP MOVING WORMS!" Imime screeched.

"Cover your ears," Usagi grunted and slipped to the ground. "AAAAAHH!" Imime threw up another sphere shield and Kamen blurred into motion, scooping up the tiara and racing back.

"I heard only an annoying buzz," he commented, handing her the circlet. Then he flicked his wrist and tossed a set of roses at the youma. "I'll distract it."

"Good to know," Usagi replied as he raced off to the left, keeping up a steady stream of roses.

"Now Sailor Moon!"

"Moon Tiara Magic!" The tiara left her hand but it was clear it was flying too far to the right.

"That's not even close," commented Imime, focusing on the man in black. Usagi smirked darkly as it ignored her and flicked her wrist to the left. The tiara changed course and bit into Imime's neck. It didn't even scream before dissolving, the glowing energy returning to its owners.

"I don't miss," Usagi quipped, returning the ring to her brow.

"Usagi, what happened!" yelled Naru from the other side of the tent, Luna running after her. "You just dropped out of contact! Hey, is that—?"

"Farewell, Sailor Moon," said Tuxedo Kamen, before disappearing through the tent on his side.

"Sailor Moon, what happened?" asked Luna. "And what were you doing with him?"

"Freaky clown youma, force field, lost tiara, got rescued, dusted it. And I'm not saying anything else until I've got a milkshake and a burger in me. And fries! Lots of fries. And maybe two burgers! And I really need a bath."  
+++++++++++++++

"You have got to be kidding me," Usagi groaned at the breakfast table the next morning.

"What is it, Usagi?" asked her mother from across the table. She followed her daughter's gaze to the front page of the newspaper her father was reading. One headline was an advertisement from a couple inviting all who wanted to come to their wedding on Sunday. The priest standing next to them was Zoicite.

"Oh, I just think that the walk-in wedding thing is a little tacky. I know I'd never do that if it were my big day." Her father looked at the page.

"It says here that they just moved to Japan, so they don't know anyone. I guess they just want to spread the joy and make some friends," he said lightly. "And you've still got a _long _ways to go before your big day," he added. Left unspoken was the fact that he didn't want it to happen until she was fifty, if ever. Her father could be frighteningly over-protective, glaring even at old family friends like Umino and Motoki.

"I guess you're right, daddy!" Usagi chirped, faking a mood swing. "Can I borrow that? I might go after all and I want to see where it is." She took the page and waltzed up to her room. Her parents shared a worried look when they saw that she had left her plate half full, but decided it could wait for the moment.

"I found the next attack," Usagi told Luna as she closed the door behind her. She tossed the paper on the bed for the feline to see. "They're getting faster. And why didn't we find this one before? If Zoicite wasn't front and center we might never have caught this. Is he _trying_ to lure us in?" Luna's tail twitched.

"If I read this address right, it's directly in our patrol path. Probably they simply didn't need to set up anything except for the article. I can't even find a compulsion like the one on the circus flyers. They must be getting desperate to be this rushed." She shook herself, fur poofing out. "I don't know how I know this, but I remember that Zoicite was always very vain, which is why he flaunts his looks."

"Maybe it's not a trap, then," Usagi said. "Let's grab Naru and scout it out."

"That will have to wait. I'll talk to her and look around, but didn't you say you were working on a project in an hour?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm meeting Ami at the Crown and she's helping me with my report. I almost forgot. It would have been embarrassing if I stood her up, huh?"

"Is it a date, then?" Usagi scowled and threw her shoe at Luna, who dodged.

"I like BOYS!"

"But you're spending time together alone, eating, talking, and getting to know each other. You've seemed very close these past couple of days. And didn't you tell me that you agreed to buy to thank her for helping?"

"It's. Not. A. DATE." Usagi ground out. "I like guys. I just think that she's a really cool person. She's super smart and super shy, so I want to help her get out of her shell."

"Well, I won't judge," Luna teased. "Such relationships were quite common back in the day. Why, even some of the senshi were—"

Luna didn't dodge Usagi's second shoe.  
++++++++++++++++++

"Zoicite!" snapped Beryl. The general appeared before her. "You have much to explain. Why have you lost three youma with no energy to show for it?"

"Your majesty, my plans have been good, but the Sailor Slut has kept find ways around them." Beryl tapped her fingers, unimpressed with his whining. "Felza was spur-of-the-moment, but we had no way of knowing we would be so quickly caught. Once it was apparent that the senshi were active, I had a youma impersonate a human and lure the humans to us. Unfortunately, she interfered again, so the third time I had Imime erect a barrier around the tent that should have been impossible to slip through."

"And yet this chit has beaten you every time. How do you plan to remedy this? Talk fast."

"With Felza we were in too public a place, and with Cristra we took too long to set up and must have been detected. With Imime there was a similar problem and we lacked the proper firepower. This time there is little preparation required, and the youma will not be present until the event. I do not have a barrier to prevent interference, but the space will be enclosed so the humans may be used as shields. And to be certain, I will be using two youma, not one."

"This had better work," said Beryl. "In the meanwhile, I also have an idea of my own for you to work on next, and it should be more successful at avoiding detection. I'll even loan you one of my favorites, but not one of my Doom and Gloom Girls."  
++++++++++++++

Usagi slipped into the back of the church, hiding among the throng of people finding seats. She wouldn't be recognized, but she wanted to be careful anyway. She shot a glance at Naru, who was sitting on the far side of the church, and the redhead nodded back encouragingly. This time they were doing things differently. There was too much risk of unconscious people being hurt in close-quarters, so she was going to do something completely new: reveal herself before the drain began. She just hoped she didn't somehow goof up, and that everyone could evacuate.

The music began, and Usagi held her breath as the bride walked up the aisle. Luna had checked the couple's given address, and they lived nowhere near there it appeared, so she could only assume that they were hypnotized or disguised youma. She stiffened as Luna brushed up against her.

"They're both youma, I'm certain of it. Remember to move fast when I distract Zoicite; it won't last for long." Usagi nodded. Then, as the bride reached the altar, she drew in a deep breath.

"KYAAAAAAHHH!" The crowd turned to face her as she dropped the disguise and Sailor Moon walked into the aisle. Then the screams started as people in the first few rows realized what the happy couple had turned into and scrambled away. The bride was still white, but corpse-like and covered in cobwebs. The groom was still black, but glossy was a beetle and spiky. Naru began to usher people out the door as an area around the youma cleared.

"Weddings are times of love and joy, and happiness and hope, where we celebrate the union of two souls," Usagi announced coldly. "Taking advantage of such a happy time for your own sick ends is disgusting. I'm Sailor Moon, and in the name of the moon, I'm going to punish you!"

"Was that speech supposed to scare me, sailor slut?" drawled Zoicite.

"No, it was supposed to let people get away, twit. Moon Tiara Magic!" The tiara flew towards the assembled dark forces, which each reacted differently. Zoicite ducked behind the altar, the black youma leapt straight up, and the white youma moved toward the people pressed up against the right wall. Usagi flicked her wrist to the right and dusted it before it could do anything, but something slammed into her. She screamed as the weight on her chest—the black youma that had tackled her—began ripping at her chest with its insectile claws. For Usagi, it was though the world had slowed down and come into sharp focus for the first time in her life. It was on her, gouging at her stomach and chest with its claws, snapping with its mandibles, chittering with hatred, and something in her twisted and surged. Suddenly a second black object slammed into her, and a second voice joined her screaming, even as the youma was pulled away.

"Sailor Moon get up!" yelled Luna, crescent ablaze. She scrambled up to see Tuxedo Kamen wresting with the youma, having stuck it with several roses. It was losing, flinching away from the blows of his cane, but it had landed several cuts. Zoicite was struggling to throw off a yellow glow, which she guessed was Luna's doing. Her tiara flew into her hand.

"Moon Tiara Magic!"

"No!" yelled Zoicite, and he managed to send a blast of dark energy that blew it off course. Kamen leapt off the youma and struck Zoicite with his cane. They began a game of dodging and ducking strikes as Zoicite conjured a crystal spear.

"Moon Tiara Magic!" Usagi called again, and dusted the youma just as it was getting up.

"You're going to die, bitch," snarled Zoicite. He weaved around Kamen and twisted to face her, preparing a horrific blast of power.

*CRASH*

Naru popped up from a pew and threw a vase at the back of his head, ducking down before he turned around. As Zoicite looked for the new attacker Kamen smashed his face with his cane. Zoicite screamed, stumbled, swore, and teleported away from a second swing. There was a moment of silence, and Usagi saw Naru duck out a side door to avoid the crowd she felt staring at her back. Luna followed.

"I believe we should leave, Sailor Moon," Kamen said quietly. He leapt off to the balcony and out the window. Usagi quietly turned to face the crowd and walked toward them. No one moved away, though they did part to let her through.

"Sorry about wrecking the place," she said guiltily. There was another beat, and then people began to slowly clap and murmur, picking up speed. Usagi leapt onto the roof and away amidst cheers and applause, smiling despite the fire from the youma's claws.  
+++++++++++++++++

Usagi was curled up in the park, trying to stop the bleeding with pieces of her shredded fuku. She was sniffling and crying from the pain, but managing.

"Usagi!" Naru called, running up to her with Luna. "I've brought a first-aid kit. Let me see how bad it is."

"Thanks," Usagi choked out. She uncurled herself and Naru began to clean away the blood, Usagi whimpering at the sting.

"These look a bit bad, but not too deep. I think they've already stopped bleeding, mostly. I'll wrap them up, but maybe you should go to the hospital for stitches. I can break a glass at home and tell everyone that's what got you. Is that safe, Luna?"

"Safe, but unnecessary," Luna replied. "In addition to protective magic and enhanced abilities, the senshi had rapid healing, and were very resistant to disease or infection. There was some special trigger that sped up regeneration greatly that I can't recall, but even without that these should be healed in a day or two. Just don't let your parents see."

"What else can I do?" Usagi asked scratchily, flinching and blinking away tears as Naru began wrapping the cuts.

"I'm sorry, but I can only remember a few basic senshi abilities. And beyond that I also know that many senshi had abilities and specialties unique to them. I wish I could remember more, but…" The Mau sighed, and Usagi scratched her ear.

"What do you remember?"

"Mars had some level of psychic abilities, and used them mostly for spiritual purposes. Primarily she could see the future through prophetic dreams, or at least a possible future, but on one occasion I think she was training blindfolded to foresee an enemy's attacks. That may have been her predecessor, though, or another senshi entirely."

"Mars is Sailor M, right? So, seeing the future will come in handy when she shows up."

"That will still be some time from now, I've been told."

"But she is coming, right Luna?"

"Yes. Eventually. Also… Sailor Saturn's spells were extraordinarily destructive, so she rarely saw combat, but she also possessed powerful healing magic. Sailor Venus was a jack-of-all-trades, and would have mastered them had she had time to grow up more. And… I remember some things about Sailor Jupiter, too. I think she was the only crown princess to be a part of the senshi at the time. Jupiter was very active and protective of those weaker than her, but it sometimes came off as her just being violent. She was skilled in hand-to-hand combat and in addition to her planetary lightning powers also had a slight affinity for plant magic. She once commented, I think, that she would have been better off as a regular citizen."

"Really? Why?"

"Jupiter…wait, I actually remember her name, I think. Aralita, or Lita to her friends. Anyway, it was because she disliked the stiffness and formality of the court. She liked being active and getting dirty, and all sorts of things nobility rarely took part in, such as gardening, animal husbandry, and cooking."

"Sounds like she was a cool person. I want to meet her."

"You eventually will, undoubtedly. Assuming the Dark Kingdom doesn't win first."  
++++++++++++++

"Usagi, is everything all right?" Ikuko asked. The family was together at the dinner table, but her daughter was eating more slowly than usual. Combined with other odd things, such as the bags under her daughter's eyes, she was beginning to get worried.

"I'm fine, mom, why?"

"You aren't eating with your usual gusto, dear. I just wanted to make sure you weren't feeling sick."

"Yes," her father added, "you've been moving a little stiffly, too. Did you hurt yourself earlier today?"

"No..." _What do I say, what do I say?_ she panicked. Luna twined around her ankles and Usagi saw her crescent glow very slightly. _"Truth with lies is the best way to avoid detection,"_ the mau's voice said in her head.

"Dear? You're spacing out a little. Do you have a fever?" Ikuko pressed her palm to her daughter's head.

"Earth to Usagi," Shingo chimed, waving his hand in front of her face with a grin. She jolted back, returning to reality.

"Ah! Oh, um, I'm just a little freaked out I guess. I was at that wedding and..."

"YOU WERE THERE!" Kenji yelled, shocked. She shot him a startled look and guilt coiled in his stomach. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be so loud. But you were there when Sailor Moon fought those monsters?"

"Uh-huh. I was near the back so I got out really fast, but it was scary, seeing people change like that." She looked down at her plate. "I'm fine, I just don't really want to talk about it. Maybe tomorrow."

"Did you see Sailor Moon?" her brother asked. "She's really awesome! What was she like in person?" Usagi smiled faintly at Shingo.

"Yeah, she was pretty cool. I think she was scared too, but she fought anyway. And the applause at the end was really cool." Usagi glanced around the table and something in her look made her parents decide to drop the subject. For now, at least. "So what's for dessert?"  
+++++++++++++++

The next day, Usagi was at the Crown with Ami, who was helping her study math, which had come up as a weak point when they were talking two days before. Naru had joked about being replaced before she headed off to piano, only to regret it as Usagi began babbling that that would never happen and having to take several minutes to reassure her.

"So why can't they just tell me what _x_ is?" the blonde groaned.

"Because you don't _know_ what _x_ is," Ami quietly explained. "Sometimes _x_ can even be more than one number and you have to decide which."

"How? By flipping a coin? Ugh! I hate algebra." Usagi slumped her head down on the table. "How can you be so good at this stuff?"

"Actually, I learned it two years ago at my old school," Ami said, blushing. "I was studying calculus and statistics before I convinced my mother to transfer me out."

"Why did you transfer anyway?" Usagi asked, only to see a shadow flit across the other girl's face. "Oh! Sorry! I forgot! Don't talk about it if you don't want to."

"Thanks," Ami said quietly. "It's simplest to say that I wanted to escape some people there, and make some new friends I guess." She smiled shyly at Usagi, who wasn't looking, having turned back to the paper with a frown. "Of course, to keep from slipping I'm attending a cram school. Speaking of which, I won't be available on Friday. I've been invited to attend the Crystal academy program that's opening up."

"Congratulations," Usagi said absently, scribbling down the answer to the practice question. "Hey is this right?"

"Close. You only forgot one step in balancing the equation, here. All you do is," she trailed off as Usagi snatched the book back and waved a teasing finger in the blunette's face. The blonde's face was half-grin, half-grimace.

"I'd love—really, _really_ love—for you to do it for me, but the last time I got Umino to do this stuff for me I flunked the test. I almost had to repeat sixth grade because of it. Ugh, what a nightmare. My parents had me grounded for the entire summer! And he still offers to do it again sometimes! Just let me try again, and _then_ you can take a shot, because if I haven't got it then I really will need help. Help from a shrink," Usagi joked, and bent her head over the page to begin scribbling again. She missed Ami's surprised look turn briefly into a brilliant smile before she buried her face back in her book. _Well. Someone finally _isn't_ using me. Maybe I won't be alone after all._  
++++++++++++++++++++

Aw, isn't that sweet? I know you all must be frothing at the mouth over when I'm going to finally reveal the next senshi. It'll be next chapter. If Usagi has been doing well so far, what will the new addition bring to the table? More awesome, that's hopefully what. See you soon!


	4. Cold Logic and Breaking the Ice

Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon

"Get it off!" Usagi shrieked, bolting upright and clutching at her stomach. Luna was thrown into awakeness and hopped back onto the bed next to the panting blonde.

"Usagi, are you alright?" The blonde just breathed for a moment, her eyes flitting back and forth across the room. Both occupants jumped at a knock at the door.

"Usagi, are you all right?" asked Ikuko, entering her daughter's bedroom. Usagi turned and gave her an obviously fake smile. "Did you have a nightmare?"

"Yeah, but it's nothing important," Usagi said. "Just about a bug. There was a giant cockroach on my stomach and I wanted it gone. That's all. Stupid, right?" Luna meowed reprovingly, but couldn't tell Usagi that it _was_ a big deal with Ikuko present.

"Is there anything else bothering you?" Usagi swallowed under her mother's look. Ikuko could guess that maybe something was going on, but she couldn't guess what. Usagi's grades had been getting marginally better of late, most likely because of a tutor Usagi had mentioned she was working with. Her daughter hadn't been acting over the moon or spending much more time on her appearance, so it wasn't a boy. And she would have heard if she was fighting with Naru, but the two seemed closer than ever. _And yet she's been acting like a cat in a roomful of rocking chairs. What is she hiding. Well…I know I got up to some things I didn't want my parents knowing about at her age, and it wasn't anything really bad. Maybe I should trust her more._

"Nothing's bugging me, mom. I just haven't been sleeping well lately. Maybe it's all the horror movies from three years ago come back to haunt me," she joked. "This was The Cockroach That Ate Cincinnati, next I'll be dreaming about The Ring, or Friday the Thirteenth. Nothing important." Ikuko frowned.

"If you say so, dear. But you, know if there is a problem, you can always talk to me about it. Always. No matter what, I will still love and support you." Usagi buried her face in the crook of her mother's neck and stayed there for a few moments.

"Thanks, mom," she said with false cheer, "but I'm growing up a little. I have to take care of some things on my own, right? Um, not that there's anything I need to take care of right now." The blonde laughed nervously and started playing with her hair. And this moved her clothes enough to catch her mother's attention.

"Usagi, what's that under your shirt?" Her daughter froze, she noticed, blood draining out of her face. She shrunk back a little, trying to escape the moonlight's revealing shine.

"W-what? There's nothing under my shirt?" Ikuko frowned, and had pulled up her daughter's shirt hem before the blonde could flinch away.

"_Bandages!_ Usagi, you're hurt and you didn't tell us. Who did this to you?"

"N-naru did the bandages for me. I just tripped and got a few scrapes! Really! It's nothing big, I just didn't think it was worth talking about!" Luna meowed and Usagi meeped as her mother pulled away the cotton wraps. Thankfully, there were only a few scabs against her otherwise smooth stomach. "S-see? Nothing, really." Ikuko gave her daughter another look, pursing her lips.

"I'll trust you about this, Usagi. But remember that you can tell me _anything._" She kissed her daughter good night and left the room. Usagi fell back onto her bed with a sigh.

"That was close, huh, Luna." The mau kept her ears on the door for a few seconds before she was sure that Ikuko had returned to her room.

"Yes, it was, I suppose. Usagi, your nightmares are not unimportant. It is a completely natural response to what is happening to you, and I wish that I didn't have to do this to you.

"Wasn't I this age when I started back in the Silver Millennium? I bet I didn't have nightmares then."

"The onset of adolescence is when someone could begin serving as a senshi, but often they appointed people who were several years older than you are now. You would probably have been at least sixteen, by the current calendar, before you became a senshi. Seventeen or eighteen would be more likely. I truly wish I could have let you grow up more before this happened, but the fate of the world is in the balance." Luna sounded genuinely apologetic, and Usagi scratched her behind the ears.

"…Whatever. Thanks, Luna. Good night." Usagi buried herself back under the covers, but her skin began crawling whenever she closed her eyes, conjuring images of that youma's face pressed up against hers, screaming and biting. She hoped Luna would go back to sleep soon so that she could grab a manga. Otherwise it would be a long four hours until dawn, because she knew she wouldn't be sleeping again tonight. If she started crying, she didn't notice.  
+++++++++++++++++++

"Odango Atama!"

"Jerkwad!"

"Runaway train!"

"Bump in the road!"

"Fat thighs!"

"Big nose!"

It was another day, another morning, and another argument between Usagi and Mamoru in the street. As any listener could see, it had degenerated very much over the course of several minutes. Arguments to insults, insults to name calling, and now they had fallen to the level of making faces. Bonus points to Usagi for stretching her mouth like that, although the bags under her eyes detracted from her looks.

*Riiiiiinng*

"I'm late!" Usagi yelped and bolted off to school Mamoru just shook his head, only to turn around and run right into a grinning Haruka.

"Do my eyes deceive me, or was our resident Ice King actually emoting," he teased. "Seriously, you should just admit that you have it bad for her already and get it over with."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Mamoru demurred. _Remember the princess. Remember the princess._ He yawned loudly and continued on his way to the Crown for his morning caffeine. "I couldn't care less about that loud-mouthed, immature, idiotic, pretty little runaway train." Haruka smirked but let the pretty comment go uncommented upon.

"Are you sure about that? You've been awfully tired lately. Perhaps she's been haunting your dreams?"

"Believe me, Haruka, she's not the one haunting my dreams." _That singular honor goes to the moon princess, though lately Sailor Moon has been showing up, too. Oh yeah, and the reason I'm so tired is that a few days ago I remember that I've been spending a good many nights tailing Sailor Moon and helping her fight. The things I do to get my memories back. At least once Sailor Moon showed up I knew I wasn't mentally disturbed. Recurring dreams about a woman in white for more than a decade had me beginning to wonder._

That discovery had been quite a shock. He'd been having blackouts lately, where he'd come to hours later in a completely different place. A trip to the doctor's office had revealed nothing, but the princess had told him that all would be revealed soon after. She apologized and said that she knew what was happening, making him question his mental stability more than he already had. Then it happened. Three days ago there had been a youma attack in broad daylight at a church. He'd woken up in his armchair at his apartment watching a news report about it. A clip that someone had shot with a cell phone had come on and suddenly everything had come rushing back to him.

He'd spent the rest of the day experimenting with his transformation and praying that no one would question him about it. Luckily, that night, the princess had explained that one of the reasons she had asked him for help was his own inherent powers, which she had shaped a little. The enemy—youma she called them—were attempting to take over the world. She needed something called the Ginzuisho, and she wanted him to help Sailor Moon, who was fighting to protect Earth. He hadn't found out much more beyond that—he'd woken up and hadn't dreamed of her again—but Sailor Moon was beginning to appear in his regular dreams, and he felt uncomfortably as though he was two-timing someone, even though he wasn't in a relationship with either of the women. Worse, that annoying blonde was showing up too, and he was starting to worry that he was turning into some kind of pervert.

"Earth to Mamoru," Haruka called for the third time, shaking his arm. He realized that he was sitting in the Crown with his coffee in front of him. "Are you alright?"

"Just tired," he said, and raised the cup to his lips.  
+++++++++++++++++++

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Usagi squealed, glomping onto Ami at lunch. Clutched proudly in her hand was the algebra test that had been handed back earlier that day. Written at the top of Usagi's was a bright red 87%.

"I-uh-y-you're welcome," Ami stuttered out as Usagi dragged her over to a circle of eight or ten people sitting under a tree.

"Guys, I'd like to introduce you to Mizuno Ami the wonder-woman," Usagi declared. "She was nice enough to tutor me, and look!" A round of applause and congratulations went up at the sight of the paper. Usagi was well liked by almost everyone in school, and avoided Queen Bee status solely by dint of being flighty and somewhat ADHD, but her poor grades were equally well known, and a common subject of friendly teasing.

"So what did you get?" Umino asked Ami, scooting over for them to sit. "I managed 102%."

"M-me too," Ami stuttered, uncomfortable at being the attention. She wouldn't want to stop being Usagi's friend for anything, but there were some parts she'd briefly consider trading. She sat on the sidelines listening as the conversation devolved into boys, pop culture, movies, and other such gossip. Then someone brought up the inevitable.

"So do you really believe this Sailor Moon stuff?" There was a moment of silence as everyone contemplated the question. Usagi and Naru carefully schooled their faces into blank expressions. Umino spoke first, luckily drawing attention away from the fact that Usagi's 'blank face' made her look like she was enduring horrible torture, and trying not to react.

"Yeah, I do. I was involved in the attacks at both the contest and the circus. I think Sailor Moon saved me both times. There's too much evidence to the contrary."

"Evidence? The only evidence is a couple of blurry videos shot from cell phones? I think it's a hoax," said another boy dismissively.

"Exactly. How could half a dozen different cell phones all shoot the same video if it were a scam? And I heard that the so-called bride and groom weren't real. No one knew their names or where they lived."

"Naru said that she saw Sailor Moon." Attention focused on the redhead.

"She's real, and she's really protecting us," Naru said firmly. "A lot of people would be dead or worse if she weren't."

"Scary…"

"What do you think Mizuno?" The shy girl squirmed under the attention.

"It…it goes against every law of science, physics, and sense that I can think of. But all the same something in me is screaming that Sailor Moon is real." The bell rang and everyone dispersed back to class, Ami pondering her honest answer.  
+++++++++++++++++++++

"Big," Usagi said quietly as she craned her head to look up Ami's apartment building. Naru grabbed her arm and jerked her in after them. Ami had invited the two over to her apartment after school, and Usagi had jumped at the chance. Naru wasn't sure why, but she went along with it too, since Ami was a very nice person.

"Don't swallow any flies," the redhead teased as they stepped onto the elevator. Ami hit button 18.

"Wow, you live high up," Usagi chirped. "I bet you have a really great view, huh? Isn't it a little scary, knowing it's such a long way down? I'm afraid of heights, so I don't think I could deal with it. Or as the brat says, I'm afraid of grounds."

"Grounds? And whom are you referring to as 'the brat'?" Ami asked as they got off the elevator.

"Grounds. My bratty little brother says it's not the height or the fall that kills you, it's the ground. I think he read that joke in a book somewhere. But he's right: if you're four miles off the ground you can fall three and a half and not get hurt."

"That's rather morbid," Naru said drily, sharing a surprised look with Ami. "Every time I forget and keep thinking you're all sunshine and smiles you prove me wrong." She shook her head and looked at Ami. "At least this is better than when she got obsessed with ghost stories and horror movies when we were eleven. I couldn't sleep well for weeks, and I had to drag my old nightlight out of retirement."

"Oh? Did you have the same problem?" Ami asked Usagi.

"Nope! It's sorta weird. I'm scared of creepy crawlies, thunder, heights, and snakes, but not the dark. Ghosts, ghouls, goblins, and graveyards: great! Haunted houses just make me laugh." She did so. "Given that I'm Saiiiii-" she trailed off, realizing what she had almost spilled, and her mind raced for a way to save the situation. "Maybe it's because cats aren't supposed to be afraid of mice and stuff, and we are winning over all the beasties of the night. It's humans who are in charge, is all I'm saying. You know?"

"That…is an interesting point, I suppose. We are what they should have nightmares of, in a sense, not the other way around. We're here," Ami said, and opened the door.

"Cool…" Usagi said. It was clear that Ami was well off from both the size and décor of the apartment.

"Yeah," Naru agreed. She turned to Ami with a teasing grin. "You said your mom's a doctor, but is your dad a yakuza boss or something? 'Cause I know rich and this is rich." The grin slid off her face when she saw the look on Ami's. "Sorry, touchy subject? That was pretty rude of me."

"And _I _should think before I speak?" Usagi cut in nervously, hoping to ease the tension.

"It's okay," Ami said quietly. "My parents were both well off before they got married and had me. The thing is, they weren't very compatible." She smiled wryly. "Point in case: I was born five months after the wedding, and I wasn't premature. My dad is a painter and he was always very laid back and careless. My mother isn't exactly strict, but she can be very serious. It's part of her job. They went through a nasty divorce when I was seven." She stopped as Usagi and Naru looped their arms around her and pulled her into a group hug, and wordlessly hugged them back. It was clear this was still a touchy subject. If anyone was crying, no one commented on it. "Anyway," Ami murmured, "I still see him in the summer and over winter break, and he'll stop by if he's in Tokyo for some reason." They separated and moved into the main area, dropping the subject.

"Hey, what games do you have?" Usagi asked as she saw the devices attached to the TV.

"Not that many, which is sort of why I invited you over," Ami replied, smiling at their confused looks. I've only ever played single-player except for a few times when my mother was joined in, so I mostly don't bother. I was hoping to try my hand against you." Usagi grinned like a shark.

"Be warned, Ami, I am a video game queen. I'm not going easy, and you're going down," she purred threateningly, and all three broke out laughing.  
++++++++++++++++++++

"Usagi, I have news," Luna said that night, hopping through a window. "I found—are you alright?"

"Just moping," Usagi said dully, flipping morosely through a manga, with a pile of them off to the side. She also had a pen in one hand, but Luna decided not to ask. "Ami beat the pants off me all afternoon. And it was her first time playing some of the games! I think my high score on Sailor M may be in danger." All of Usagi's five high scores on the game were a full digit larger than the sixth place score, Luna remembered.

"Doubtful," said Luna. "That game at the Crown is a one-of-a-kind version I installed especially for your training at central control's suggestion."

"Wait, what?"

"I set up that game using some old Lunarisian technology and hypnotized the young man into thinking he'd ordered it. It incorporates some of the programs that were used to train the senshi's reflexes, reactions, and judgment. Although if she does manage a high score, she's worth looking into as a possible senshi."

"Then start looking," Usagi said bluntly. "Her top score is number four." There was a beat and then it sank in. "Omigod! That would be so cool if she were another senshi! Which one do you think she is, huh?"

"Quiet!" Luna hissed. "That is wonderful news, though. I'll follow her for a few days to see if she rings any bells. Meanwhile, though, I've found the next attack's location. It appears that the Dark Kingdom is getting more wary, as this plan is on a much smaller scale than before. It couldn't catch more than two-dozen people, so they no doubt hope it will be too small to evade our notice."

"What are they doing?"

"Tomorrow will be the opening of something called Crystal Academy. The Dark Kingdom is going to drain all the people there. What's wrong?" the Mau asked when she saw that her charge had gone dead white.

"Ami is attending the opening tomorrow," Usagi said quietly. Then she called Naru on the communicator. "We've got trouble. Planning time."  
++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Hello, I'm here for the Crystal Academy opening," Ami said quietly to the desk attendant. The woman pointed and Ami walked down the hall until she saw the room marked Crystal Academy Cram School. She entered.

"Welcome, take a seat," said the pretty, brunette teacher. "You're almost late," she added, not quite chidingly, as she handed Ami a jump drive. The girl flushed.

"M-my mother couldn't drive me so I had to take the bus."

"Well, you're here now. Take a seat and start working." Ami did so and began working through the problems on the screen as they appeared. They weren't too difficult, but the background kept shifting colors like a lava lamp and was giving her a headache. _Ugh. Maybe I can convince mother to let me drop out for medical reasons. These graphics are awful, and the questions really aren't very difficult._ She was on fifteen when she felt the hair on the back of her neck rise and looked around.

"Hey, what's wrong with everyone?" She yelped. All of the other students had slumped over their keyboards, unconscious.

"You aren't a very good student, are you?" she heard a deep voice say behind her. Stomach in knots, she turned around and screamed. The teacher had transformed into a seven-foot tall black and green monster, recognizable only by its scraggly mop of red hair and file-folder. It was thin enough to look almost skeletal, but its wicked claws and fangs made up for that. The door burst open and a blonde and_ is that a cat?_ raced in.

"Stop youma! You have no right to these people's energy! I am Sailor Moon, and in the name of the moon I'm going to punish you!"

"You and what army?" It asked. Then a faint sound was all the warning it needed and ducked to the ground to avoid a glowing tiara racing toward the back of its head. Ami saw that it had been thrown by Sailor Moon, who was somehow also climbing in the window. Then a black cat raced up to her and flipped, dropping a blue pen into her hand.

"Yes, that symbol! Take this and say Mercury Power: Make Up!" it urged. _Wait, a talking cat. I must be going crazy._ But as she opened her mouth to scream, or babble, or stammer out a question, she felt the words pour out into the air.

"Mercury Power: Make Up!" There was a flash and the world changed. She felt herself floating, encased in a cocoon of water and light. It poured across her body, forming cloth she felt against her skin. Boots on her feet, gloves on her hands, and the cool weight of metal on her forehead. She settled onto the ground and looked at herself. Then the world flashed again and she felt herself flopped against a wall, her cheek aching. The thing had hit her. Hard.

"Are you alright?" asked Sailor Moon, crouched beside her. On second thought, it must be the fake Sailor Moon, as she could see the real one swatting at the monster with a ring of light. Suddenly it jumped back to avoid a flurry of roses thrown by a man at the window. _Is he wearing a tuxedo?_ She put a hand to her face and the glove came back stained red, but not enough to be serious.

"People work hard night and day to achieve their dreams, and this is one way they do so. Don't dare to mock those sacrifices," Tuxedo Kamen said harshly to the youma. "Now, Sailor Moon!" It looked at him, and only just dodged when Sailor Moon attacked from behind while it was distracted.

"What spells do you remember?" the cat asked urgently. "She needs help!"

"I don't," Ami began, but she felt herself stand and suddenly she did remember something. "Mercury Spray Shroud!" she called, and the room filled with a light mist. The youma swung around wildly.

"Where did you go, bitch!" it shrieked. _Behind you,_ Ami thought, wondering why it couldn't see Sailor Moon. Then she sliced the glowing ring into its stomach and it burst into dust. She saw the man at the window smile and fall away.

"Alright, it's gone," the real Sailor Moon said. "Can someone kill the fog? I kind of need to see, too. I almost didn't get the youma except it was really loud." Ami couldn't see how she couldn't see, but she relaxed some mental tension she hadn't realized she'd tensed, and the mist dissipated. "That's better," Sailor Moon said, fiddling with her silver mask. Then she looked at Ami and frowned. "I can still tell it's you, crud. Luna, Naru, get her somewhere safe while I call for help." Ami felt the fake Sailor Moon grab and yank her down the hall, and she finally accepted that she wasn't dreaming. _I just hope I'm not insane, either.  
+++++++++++++++++++++_

"Okay, let me see if I understand this. Ten thousand years ago there was life—intelligent life and civilization—on all of the planets. Despite the atmosphere problems and distances between them." Ami had moved past hysteria into some form of universal acceptance, and seemed to be eerily normal. Her face was blank and her eyes fish-like, not noticing the park.

"Yes, though it's closer to fourteen-thousand, I believe," said Luna.

"Right. Fourteen-thousand. The hegemon civilization was on the moon, and the sailor senshi were its champion soldiers. And how did the planets communicate?"

"In order, yes, yes, and they used warp-gates that literally folded space so you could walk from one planet to the next."

"Then some cataclysmic war happened and killed almost everyone and left the planets uninhabitable except for Earth. Earth was spared because it was where the attack originated from and they didn't want to destroy their home."

"Yes. Gaia would have also been eventually destroyed by Metaria, but it needed a base of operations at the time."

"This war ended when the empress magically imprisoned the conquering army somewhere, but almost everyone had died by then. The survivors from both sides settled on Earth, but their culture degraded into vastly more primitive forms and had to redevelop."

"She wasn't an empress, just a queen, but yes."

"The definition of an empress is a ruler who rules other kings and queens, so from your description, she was, regardless of the title she used. She then magically sent the souls of the dead senshi forward to be reincarnated around the time the enemy broke out of jail."

"Yes."

"I am one of these reborn warriors, charged with saving the world from the forces of evil."

"Yes. Specifically, Sailor Mercury."

"Okay. I am not crazy, not dreaming, not hallucinating, and not having a Wizard of Oz experience."

"Yes. Wait, I mean no. I mean… you are perfectly sane, albeit in shock."

"It was a shock to me too," Usagi—now out of her Sailor Moon guise—added, putting her hand on Ami's shoulder.

"Everything I know about basic physics, anthropology, astronomy, planetology, technology, archeology, and science in general is wrong."

"Not at all," said Luna, and for the first time Ami looked to snap out of her funk, blinking, and then her eyes focusing on Luna. "Magic often works with the laws of science, and often is, in fact, interwoven tightly with them. There were several different branches of thaumology—which was the study of magic—and often mages needed to have a thorough grounding in non-magical science before advancing to the higher levels of study." Ami looked slightly relieved.

"Does that mean I have to do better in science to be a good senshi?" Usagi asked worriedly.

"It certainly wouldn't hurt to bring your grades up, but it isn't a necessity for senshi, since their magic is a little different. It would be like an English literature specialist learning Chinese or Latin: useful, but far from necessary."

"Okay," Ami cut in, "I don't want to believe this is true, but something in me is screaming that it is and that this _isn't_ the end of the world as I know it. Or that it is, and that the end is a good thing. Somehow. I'm going to ignore the question of how life was able to flourish on planets with such harsh environments—much less the gas giants. I'm going to ignore the question of how the planets first communicated with each other over such huge distances, and the question of how the planets' inhabitants could all be so genetically similar in spite of coming from different planets." There was a wobble in her voice that warned just how close she was to completely losing control, and some tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. "I'll even ignore the question of how the 'demonic army' could wipe out so many people so quickly. I just want to know one. More. Thing." Her eyes focused square on Usagi. "Did you become friends with me just because you knew I was one of the senshi?"

"What! No!" Usagi yelped and went nose to nose with Ami. "I swear Ami, we only started to suspect anything yesterday when Luna said that the Sailor M game is secretly a senshi training machine and I told you had high score number four and she said she'd look into it. I swear we didn't even suspect before then!" Her blue eyes were wide and truthful.

"She's right," Luna cut in. "If I had known you were a senshi then I would have awakened you in a much safer situation the way I did Usagi. However, the reason the two of you hit it off so quickly may be because you subconsciously recognized each other as former comrades."

"Okay," Ami said faintly, and took a shuddering breath. Then suddenly she tackled Usagi and was sobbing almost hysterically into her shirt, choking out the occasional word like "die," "sense," "friend," and "scared". Usagi quickly wrapped her arms around the girl and began murmuring soothing words while Naru scooted around a hugged her from the other side. They stayed like that for a long time, Luna even winding her way in and rubbing up against Ami encouragingly. Finally the bluenette calmed down enough to breathe slowly, and eventually she pulled herself together. "T-thanks," she choked out quietly. "I think I'm going to be a-all right. I just need to tilt my worldview a little. A lot. Ohhh." She pulled out of the hug and groaned, massaging her head. The others let her, not sure about what to do other than offer support. There was a moment of just breathing, and then, "What part do you play in this?" she asked Naru.

"I'm not a senshi," the redhead admitted ruefully. "I just figured out who Usagi is and offered to help, since heroes always need more help than they get in stories and manga. Besides, she's my best friend." Ami nodded unsteadily.

"Alright, I think I need a little more data. What can senshi do, to start with?"

"First, we should get you your disguise," Luna said. "Transform the same way you did before and focus on keeping your identity secret. We'll also get to see what other abilities you have."

"Mercury Power: Make Up." No one had gotten a good look at how Ami's first transformation had gone, so they took the time to appreciate it now. She was immediately shrouded in a veil of light while streamers of water erupted from her pen and twisted around her. Most of them tightened and began forming her fuku, but a few stayed separate. Then one wrapped around her forehead, forming a golden tiara with a band of sapphire running through it. The second one twisted down to the already formed glove on her left hand and poured into it, stitching blue threads into it in a vein-like pattern. The third twisted around her face, forming a silver mask almost identical to Usagi's, Kamen's, and Sailor M's. The glow faded and Sailor Mercury stood before them. "Now what?"

"Luna, do I go naked when I transform, too?" asked a horrified Usagi.

"I was naked?" gasped a now similarly mortified Sailor Mercury, blushing.

"Yes and yes," answered Naru sharply. "But the light keeps us from really seeing anything and it's just us girls. We've washed each other's backs at the public baths and the hot springs in Okinawa, remember Usagi? Now as Luna was _saying_…"

"All senshi share a few basic abilities," said Luna. "The first is enhanced physical capabilities: you can run faster, jump higher, and hit harder than any normal human."

"Moon Power: Make Up!" announced Usagi, and in a few seconds Sailor Moon had joined Sailor Mercury. She grinned and jumped straight up in the air, and must have rose thirty feet before coming back down to ground, barely clearing the treetops.

"The nudity wasn't that bad, I guess," mumbled a still embarrassed Ami, smoothing out her skirt. "I couldn't see anything. But do these skirts have to be so short? I don't want to flash the world." Usagi flipped up her own skirt to check and hastened to reassure Ami.

"That's not my panties, it's just the fuku. It's like wearing a leotard with a skirt, or a bathing suit. Haven't you ever done gymnastics?"

"No, but I love swimming. I can live with a bathing suit." Ami took an exploratory jump in the air and made over ten feet. "Enhanced balance too, I should have fallen on my face. Does the suit also cushion the impact from landing?"

"That's probably the second senshi power," responded Luna. "The senshi are surrounded by a magical armor that partially absorbs the force of most physical and magical attacks. You still get hit, but it does much less damage. A punch is like a blow from a pillow."

"That would explain why I wasn't badly injured from the attack when I first transformed."

"This armor has other properties, but I forget exactly what, I'm afraid."

"How strong is it exactly? Can it stop a bullet, or just physical blows?"

"I'm not certain," Luna confessed. "But that brings us to the last universal senshi ability: accelerated healing."

"How accelerated?" asked Ami, her medical interest immediately intrigued.

"I'm not certain, but the gash on your cheek has already begun scabbing over."

"You know the attack at the church?" Usagi piped up. "The beetle youma cut up my stomach and Naru thought I was going to need stitches, but I was all better in two days. My mom wasn't at all suspicious. There aren't even any scars!"

"That is fast…" Ami trailed of into thought. _Two days instead of two weeks or more with stitches. That means our healing may be at least seven or ten times as fast. If that applies to things like building muscle and bone growth, it would be incredibly useful for training. Which makes sense if the senshi were originally intended to be soldiers. I wonder how far it goes._ "Did you have to stay in uniform the entire time?"

"No," Luna responded on Usagi's behalf. "Being transformed offers you the full array of powers you can access, but you are _always_ a senshi, even when out of uniform. Some things, including the healing, carry over to your civilian form. Usagi, for instance, can run extremely quick even in civilian guise."

"Oh, so that's why I can do that."

"Would that explain my intelligence?" Ami asked worriedly.

"No. On the contrary, your intelligence was probably one of the main reasons you were chosen as Sailor Mercury in the Silver Millennium. It was an appointed position, so there were some form of trials whenever a new senshi was needed, in which the candidates displayed their abilities."

"I see. How did you impersonate Sailor Moon back there?" Ami asked Naru.

"This," Naru replied, and held up the pink wand. "It lets you disguise yourself as someone else. It's called the disguise pen."

"That is a useful resource. So what can I do as Sailor Mercury specifically?"

"Well," began Usagi, "as Sailor Moon I have two attacks, really. The first is this: Moon Tiara Magic!" The disk cut off a tree branch before returning to her. "And then I can also…YAAAAAHH!" The enhanced yell echoed through the grove of trees, blowing off some leaves, and the others moved to cover their ears before realizing they didn't have to. "Yeah, I found out that it only hurts the bad guys when Tuxedo Kamen got my tiara back at the circus," she said smugly. "I can also use them to listen for people who need help so I know where to go, but we've mostly been finding attacks before they start, so I haven't been using it much. That's how I got the youma in the mist. You did that, right?"

"Yes," responded Ami. "I think it was…Mercury Spray Shroud!" A chill mist filled the clearing, obscuring the trees and bushes.

"Hey, I can see now," commented Usagi. Naru and Luna both concurred. "I couldn't before. Did you do that on purpose?"

"Hmm… Hypothesis: I can choose if I want to allow people to see or not. Mercury Spray Shroud!" Mist reappeared, no thicker than before to Ami's eyes, but there was a noticeable change in the others' reactions.

"I can barely see the hand in front of my face," said Naru, wrapping her arms around her chest.

"I can barely see my own tail. Also, my hearing and smell seem off."

"I can still see fine," said Usagi. The mist disappeared.

"That confirms it," said Ami. "Next: Mercury Tiara Magic!" Nothing happened. "Well, it looks like I can't do that. This is… worrisome, since I appear to lack offensive capabilities beyond the physical enhancements."

"Your tiara should do something," said Luna. "Otherwise it wouldn't have formed in the first place. The same with your left glove." Ami frowned and twiddled the fingers of her left hand, causing the blue threads to sparkle. _I feel…something,_ she thought, and tried again. Naru's phone rang.

"Sorry, guys, I'll get it. Hey, there's no one there." Ami tried again, and Naru's phone rang again. "How are you doing that?" she asked Ami, wide-eyed.

"It appears as though my glove can affect electronic equipment to some degree. I'l have to discern what it can do and whether it is limited to simple devices or includes computers," she said. "Wait, I believe I have an intuition about my tiara." She stroked the band of sapphire and a screen descended over her eyes like an electronic veil. "Incredible. This is incredible. I can see so many different things with this. I think I'm seeing magic, maybe, and heat, and electromagnetic signatures, and maybe even x-rays. I can see how old the trees are, and where all the animals are hiding nearby. I can tell how healthy you all are, and where there are vulnerable points I can target. It's…it's rather beautiful."

"I'm not surprised," said Luna. "I think can remember Sailor Mercury being closely tied to information and tactical decisions. Wait, that reminds me of something." She did a flip and a communicator dropped out. "No." Another flip and a purple henshin wand appeared. "Not that either." A third flip produced what appeared to be a calculator. "Here it is," she said, disappearing the other two items. "I am proud to present you with the Mercury Computer, a tool from the Silver Millennium." Ami took it and began fiddling with it curiously.

"It seems like I should remember this," she said absentmindedly. Then she turned her attention back to Luna. "I still lack offensive abilities, unless this fires lasers. Do you have a weapon of some sort? Something that can harm a youma?"

"Sorry, but if I did I would have already given it to Naru," the mau replied. "Perhaps you'll remember one during a sparring session, since Usagi now has someone she can practice with. However, I must point out that everyone should return to home, as night will fall within the hour. We can arrange more meetings tomorrow at Usagi's home."

"My mother will probably be at work, so mine might be better," Ami volunteered.

"Very well. We shall meet at noon."  
++++++++++++++++++

And the battle is joined. I've got some comments about the various different names I've been using, such as calling Sailor Jupiter Lita instead of Makoto. I'm using the English anime name's for the senshi's past lives, so Ami in the Silver Millennium will be Amy, Rei will be Raye, Haruka will be Amara, etc. Usagi will still be Usagi, but there'll be a tradition that the heir/heir is known by a diminutive of their parent's name to all but their friends until they are grown. So as Serenity's daughter Usagi would be Princess Serena, and if Chibi-Usa ever shows up she would be known as Usa or Chibi-Usa instead of her real name (because my version of Usagi wouldn't name her daughter after herself). As for things like henshin/transformation, well, I'm just a little eclectic. See you in a week.


	5. Libraries, Schools, Shittennou, Oh My!

Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon. Nor do I own any of the other Sailor Moon fics I make shout outs to.  
+++++++++++++++

"I come bearing Super Smash Brothers," joked Usagi as she and Luna walked into Ami's apartment.

"More importantly," said Luna, "we may have discovered another attack. The Dark Kingdom is either getting better, or more desperate, and I'm not sure which would be worse."

"Where is it?" Asked Ami, as Naru hit pause on the video game.

"The library down the street," Usagi replied. "Luna caught a whiff as we walked by and took a few minutes to investigate, which is why we're late."

"There doesn't seem to be people passing out or dying," Luna said contemplatively, "but there were a lot of yawns going around. I think that the Dark Kingdom isn't trying to drain all the energy this time, just enough to keep off the radar. It almost worked."

"Should we go take care of it now?" asked Naru.

"If we wait until tomorrow the library will be closed, and on Monday we have school," Usagi pointed out.

"By the time we finish they will have gathered a large amount of energy and may have even decided to cut the operation short and quit while they're ahead. We should do it now."

"Strategy suggestions?" asked Usagi, and the girls went into a huddle.  
++++++++++++++++

Mamoru had just drained his latte when he felt a familiar tug in his chest.

"Sorry to drink and run, Motoki, but I just remembered something I have to do. I'll be back in less than an hour," he said, and pulled out some cash. "When Haruka comes by tell him I said that and give him whatever he wants on me until I get back."

He raced out the Crown's doors and made it two blocks before he ducked into an alley. A flick of his wrist conjured a rose and another flick transformed him into Tuxedo Kamen. He took to the roofs, following the pull in his chest, and found himself in downtown Tokyo, looking at a public library. _I can't feel any fear or excitement, so I guess the fight hasn't started yet._ He saw Moon in a back alley and perched nearby to listen to her talk into some small, round device. _A communicator of some kind?_

"My sensors have found the youma to be on the top floor," said a voice over the communicator. "We should strike now before it returns to a more populated area."

"Alright," said Moon in response. "Mercury and I will move to engage it on the top floor. You two stay one floor down to run interference in case we make too much noise or it tries to run. Is Zoicite there, Mercury?" That name, Zoicite, caused a surge of emotion in Mamoru's chest, but it was gone faster than it had come, so he put it to the side.

"If he is present, I am unable to detect him, but I don't think so." So that voice was Mercury. He vaguely remembered a new senshi appearing in the last battle, but his focus had been on Sailor Moon until the mist appeared. And hasn't there been another helper as well?

"Then let's move," said Moon. She jumped straight up, unbelievably high, and hit the wall a few feet below the third-floor window with a thud. She fell back down to the ground.

"Owie. Note to self: I'm not superwoman." She jumped again, kicked off the wall, kicked off the wall on the other side of the alley, and caught the third floor windowsill with her hand. A moment of fiddling later and she slid in, and Mamoru followed ten seconds later, darting into the shadows to avoid detection. He didn't want to deal with the questions the senshi might ask, partly because he didn't know the answers. _Only that the princess asked me to help._

"Which way?" Moon asked.

"It's walking down the hall toward you. I'm behind it. In a few seconds I'm going to make a mist. Just open the door and throw the tiara."

"Seems simple enough. Fingers crossed."

"Five. Four. Three. Mercury Spray Shroud!" Moon opened the door and jumped out, the incantation on her lips, only to break off as she hit the floor.

"Oof!" Through the mist Mamoru could see that a figure was on top of moon, and it scrambled through the open door. It took him only a second to guess what had happened: the youma had panicked at the mist and run for the nearest cover—this room.

"Not today, sailor bitches," it yelled, only to scream when Mamoru threw two roses into the librarian's knees. It dropped its disguise, falling to the floor with the crackle of popping joints, revealing a form like a six-legged blue salamander, only human-sized. "Draigoth will be your doom!" it yelled, and blew out a foul purple smoke.

Mamoru leapt over the cloud and brought the cane down, only to find that it wasn't there. Pain lashed across his back as its tail sent him flying into the wall—

"Moon Tiara Magic!"

—only for it to scurry out of the way of Moon's tiara.

It blurred toward him before he could get himself together, and Moon jump-kicked it in the face, but screwed up her landing. Time seemed to blur as its tail moved to whip Moon, only for him to rush forward and pull her out of the way. Unfortunately, this left its path to the hall clear, where the mist had dissipated. It ran past a girl in blue—_must be Sailor Mercury_—only for Moon and him to race out after it. A trio of roses stopped it from moving forward, only for it to dodge sideways and then straight back to avoid Moon's tiara, which had changed direction mid-flight.

"It's too fast!" Moon yelled.

"It's a reptile," replied Mercury. "Hit in the legs or make it cold and it will slow down. Mercury Spray Shroud!" A mist appeared again and Mamoru absently noted that he could see through it easily this time as he threw more roses. One got the youma's foot, but it still dodged the tiara. It was clear that it hadn't seen the attacks coming, though, and it scampered up the wall to try and get away. Mamoru threw a bunch of roses—at least a bouquet's worth—to pen it in and leapt after it, slamming it to the floor with his cane and breaking a leg, he hoped. Immediately after he had the unpleasant shock of being doused in frigid water that started to freeze on his body and clothes even as he jumped back.

Correction. Even as he was thrown back by a lash from the youma's tail. He hissed at the starburst of pain, but there seemed to be no bleeding.

"Aqua Bubble Burst!" Mercury called again and threw several balls of water that completely froze the lizard to the ground.

"Moon Tiara Magic!" Or not, as the youma spit out a burst of foul smoke and shattered it's prison, dodging the tiara. Moon herself was following it in another jump kick, and was swatted out of the air by its tail for her trouble. Said tail swirled around to block Mamoru's three roses, but Moon's tiara was homing in from behind.

The youma burst into dust. The mist cleared. Everyone let out a sigh of relief. Mercury fiddled with her visor and grimaced.

"No one was poisoned by its breath, to my knowledge. We were very fortunate, as the gas would have been fatal in minutes if not treated."

"We were _too_ lucky," Sailor Moon said with a shiver.

"I'm sorry, ladies, but someone is waiting for me, so I have to run," said Mamoru to the senshi, tipping his tophat. He raced back to the room and out the window faster than they could chase. _I hope Haruka hasn't been waiting too long.  
+++++++++++++++++++++++_

"Zoicite, report!" Queen Beryl's sharp command echoed around the caverns and the general appeared before her. "Explain to me why Draigoth has not returned to me, and why I should not destroy you where you stand."

"Once again, my Queen, I come bearing good news and bad."

"It had better be _very_ good. Speak."

"Draigoth was indeed killed by the senshi, but when I examined the battle field more thoroughly I discovered something that is both disturbing and encouraging."

"And that is…?"

"Sailor Mercury was also present at the scene of the battle. This has similar connotations to the appearance of the other two senshi." He tensed at the crackle of energy in his queen's hands.

"That is interesting. What else have you uncovered? The loss of one of _my own_ youma is more important than just that."

"Two things, your majesty. First, I have already recouped a fair amount of energy." He presented her with the power, carefully ignoring the fact that it all had been gathered from Draigoth's operation, not from his own.

"This is good. What else?"

"My next operation is already in place, designed to work along similar parameters to the previous successful operations. However, it will target a much larger source of energy than before. Soon there shall more power for our great leader Metaria!" Beryl smiled at his announcement, and the caves shook as she fed the energy into the darkness within the mountain of bones beneath her throne. Then she blasted him, just because.  
+++++++++++++++++++

"How come Ami gets a new attack already?" Usagi whined playfully once they had resituated themselves in the newest senshi's apartment.

"I don't know, it just came to me in the moment," Ami replied. "It's still not very powerful, but it did the job, this time."

"What happened?" Naru asked, popping some crackers into her mouth.

"The youma was a big lizard disguised as a librarian. It ran me over when Ami did the mist thing. Then Tuxedo Kamen kept it from running with some roses, but it hit him with its tail. I hit it, and it was going to hit me—it dodged my tiara—but Tuxedo Kamen pulled me out of the way. He was really warm." Usagi trailed off and her cheeks flushed, remembering how he had cradled her in his arms.

"The youma was exceedingly fast," Ami continued. "It raced back into the hall and hit me because I had let the mist drop. Usagi and Kamen—who is he, by the way?—entered the hall and attacked. His roses made it pause but it still dodged the tiara again."

"Everyone seems to be dodging it now," Usagi griped. "I really need some cool new attack to power up with."

"I realized and informed them that due to its reptilian biology, it would slow down if we could chill it. Attacking the legs would also work, but I saw that two had already been injured, meaning that it was already at less than maximum speed. Between that and its toxic breath, I hate to think what would have happened had it been exercising its full potential."

"Tuxedo Kamen," explained Usagi, "has been helping us fight the youma and he's sort of but not a jewel thief. He got it with two roses right at the beginning of the fight. Do you still think he's a Dark Kingdom agent?" she asked Luna archly.

"Considering Ace's actions it is still a possibility," the mau replied just as archly. "However I am willing to concede that thus far he appears to at least be the enemy of our enemy. That does not mean he is entirely on our side, though."

"The fight," Naru prompted impatiently. "What else did I miss?"

"I cast a mist to slow it down slightly, and it crawled onto the wall. Kamen encircled it in roses and hit it with his cane, at which point I instinctively called out 'Aqua Bubble Burst' for the first time and soaked them both. He moved away and I used the spell a second time, almost completely freezing the youma, at which point Usagi threw her tiara. It broke out of the ice and attacked her, but the tiara got it on the way back."

"Then Tuxedo Kamen said he had someone waiting for him and ran off." Usagi sighed dreamily, before frowning slightly. "I hope it isn't a girl."

"What happened to your crush on Motoki?" Naru teased. Usagi started stammering before Luna shushed them all and caught their attention.

"Alright, girls, that's enough. I want to say that I'm very proud of how you handled this. Even you, Naru; I saw how much you wanted to run up the steps and help but you stayed in character and kept other people from interfering. I must say I liked the excuse. Bookshelf repair indeed," she chuckled.

"It sucks a bit that I'm getting less and less, action, but at the same time I feel relieved. I still wish I could hit that General with another sandbag, though," she said morosely.

"Luna, is it supposed to be this easy? I have a hard time believing that the Dark Kingdom could have wiped out the Silver Millennium, just from what's happened already."

"Compared to things the senshi could usually handle, any single youma is not too great a threat. The senshi took down _hundreds each_ before they fell. Only in rare circumstances tailored for them and against you are you in grave danger. However, don't get cocky. We have been very lucky thus far, and that may not continue. We still have no idea what the other three Shittennou are doing, remember?"

"I take it back," Usagi said sickly. "Let's hope we stay lucky when we need it."

"Exactly. But practice is always beneficial. I'm going to spend the rest of the day scouting for more youma activity, but you girls can do what you want. Ami, can you meet us in the park at ten-thirty for training tonight?"

"Yes, I can, but there are some things I should cover before you go. First, I think we should all get some official training from a dojo, or some equivalent."

"What?"

"Why?"

"One, because I felt helpless against the youma without a magical attack, as even my new attack is only good for immobilizing. Two, learning to fight properly will make us better fighters. You too, Naru. What if we get attacked before we can transform, and need to buy time? Three, because I was reading up on our senshi abilities, and the strength increase is multiplicative. Building muscle in civilian form will make our senshi forms much stronger."

"Sounds good to me," chirped Usagi.

"Yeah, maybe I can get good enough to learn some demon-slaying secret technique," Naru joked. "I mean, we do still hear stories about traveling devil hunters. Maybe there's some truth to them."

"Also, as I mentioned, I was reading up on our senshi abilities and I'd like to go over what I found."

"Go on. I'd love to be enlightened."

"Yeah! What can we do? What can we do?"

"As I said, the physical increase multiplies our strength, so getting stronger is good. We can also build muscle much faster due to our enhanced healing, and I found out what fuels the healing."

"Ooh, what," Usagi asked, leaning forward.

"Light. Specifically sunlight in the day and starlight at night. Moonlight also, as it is reflected sunlight. Have you ever been sunburned, Usagi?"

"Um…no? Not that I can think of. There was this one time we all went to the beach, though, and my dad was bright red for weeks, though." She giggled.

"Neither have I, I've realized. Apparently one of the marks of a senshi is that we don't get sunburned. That might help us search for new senshi. Lastly, I discovered that our armor is much more complicated than we originally thought."

"It is?"

"Let's start with stopping physical damage. Our armor's magic works best at stopping high-velocity blunt force trauma, followed by blunt force trauma in general."

"That means getting hit, not cut, right?" asked Usagi.

"Correct. How much a blow hurts us depends on both its velocity—how fast it's moving when it hits us—and its mass, which is how big it is or how much it weighs."

"You don't have to dumb it down for me _that_ much," Usagi accused. Ami blushed guiltily.

"S-sorry. For instance, as an example of the forces, you would probably be surprised to know that a thrown bowling ball has about the same amount of energy as a bullet."

"No way," Naru said. "Wait, is a bullet the high velocity one?"

"Correct, and our armor is best at stopping high velocity forces. So oddly, it might hurt us more if someone threw a bowling ball at us than if we were shot."

"So we're bulletproof?" Usagi asked eagerly.

"_Theoretically_, yes. They shouldn't do more than bruise, but I'd rather not have to find out if I'm right. We're also shrapnel proof." She looked at Usagi's blank expression. "I'll explain later. Next, our armor is merely moderately good at stopping piercing force, such as spikes."

"Like porcupine quills?"

"Exactly, Usagi. It is worst, however, at stopping cutting force, like knives. So ironically, a man with a knife is more of a threat than one with guns and grenades."

"That is sort of funny," Naru said wryly.

"That isn't all, though. Usagi, you're out in your fuku several nights a week, and it's October. Almost November. Do you ever get cold?"

"No, not really…you mean it protects us from hot and cold, too?"

"Yes. It also provides us with a breathable atmosphere. Not only can we not drown, we can survive in the vacuum of space. We are still vulnerable to poison, though, whether as a gas or injected. Another youma like today's would be severely ill fortune."

"Poison is bad. Got it."

"That's all I've found so far. I also looked up my own abilities. Sailor Mercury is the senshi with control over water, specifically cold water. I couldn't find anything on Moon, though."

"As the overall commander of the senshi Sailor Moon's data would probably be classified above even your clearance level, Mercury."

"That would explain a lot. There are a number I've files I've been interested in, but breaking the encryption is slow going."

"This is still wonderful, though. Anything else?" Luna asked.

"No."

"Then I'm off. Enjoy the afternoon, girls. You deserve it."

"Well, like I said before, I come bearing mindless videogame violence," Usagi joked, and popped the disk in to play.  
++++++++++++++++++++++

"Good morning, class," said Ms. Haruna on Monday. The girls had decided to spend Sunday as a lazy day, since Luna doubted they would have very many in the near future. "Usagi, it's good to see you coming on time again."

The sleep-deprived blonde opened her mouth to reply, but Naru jabbed her in the ribs and she decided not to. "Now, class, before we begin I have a small announcement. Principal Raikon has a project he's working on for the board, and part of it involves student interviews. Mr. Ganju's class will be going first, but after they're done I'll be sending you in groups of four or five to his office. This should only take a few minutes, so don't let it affect your classwork. Now, open to page 83 in your textbooks."

Time passed as slowly as ever for Usagi in school, but she got a short break in the monotony when they heard that the first class was done, and Ms. Haruna started sending groups to the principal. It was after the third set of five had left—it was in alphabetical order, so Usagi was in the fifth and final set—that Naru elbowed her.

"Usagi, do you see what I see?" Fortunately, Ms. Haruna took that moment to put them in groups to discuss the reading.

"What do you see?" Usagi asked back. "I thought the story was pretty clear, what am I missing?"

"Not the story, our classmates! The guys who went to the principal's office can barely keep their eyes open!"

"Danzo! Wake up!" Ms. Haruna snapped just then, the boy jolting awake guiltily. "This is the kind of behavior I expect from Usagi, not you. Hall. Now."

"I think their energy was drained," Naru hissed. Usagi's eyes widened and she grabbed Ami, who was in the group next to them.

"Can I borrow her for a sec? I wanna bounce something off her to see if it's too crazy. Thanks." She pulled the bluenette off to the side and hissed into her ear, "Naru thinks the principal is a youma draining energy. Can you check?"

"What? Oh, that's _bad_. I'll bring the Mercury Computer when I go to his office in the next group and scan." Ami turned back to her partner and continued the discussion, and a few minutes later the third group returned and the fourth, including both Ami and Naru, were sent off. The minutes seemed to slog by as Usagi waited for them to return. Finally, the door opened. Naru looked especially bad.

"Good, you're all back. Patsuru, Shisui, Sukiyama, Taidaku, Tsukino. Be quick about it." Usagi got up and managed to catch Ami's eye as she walked out. Ami gave a small nod and hissed at her. It took Usagi a moment to figure it out, and when she did her blood ran cold. Ami had hissed, "Zoicite."

_This is bad. There's no way I can do this on my own, and I can't henshin around my classmates, and Ami and Naru are stuck in class! Luna doesn't even know! Okay, breathe. He didn't catch Ami and he won't catch me. But we have to do this fast. He could get a lot of energy if he drains the whole school._

"Go on in," said Mr. Raikon's secretary. They had arrived. The five of them filed in and sat around a table in front of the principal's desk. Mr. Raikon looked normal, as middle-aged and balding as ever, but Usagi's heart skipped a beat when she saw Zoicite sitting in a chair in the corner. Then, she had to keep from laughing hysterically when she realized he was in a dress and make-up.

"Good morning," said Mr. Raikon, or at least the youma posing as him. "This lady in the corner here is from the department of education. If you'll just take a survey from the pile on the table and fill it out, you can go back to class." They each took a paper and pencil, and Usagi hesitated for half a second before deciding to fill out some false information.

_If they do realize I'm a senshi, they won't know who I am. And since that's not the real Mr. Raikon, they won't know I'm lying. Oh crap, I hope he's okay. If they killed him I'll…_ she reluctantly let the violent thoughts trail off and focused on the paper.

**Name** Tsubasa Sakura  
**Grade** freshman **Age** 15 **GPA** about 3.57 **HR#**304  
**Family** Single mother, one older sister in college. **Blood Type** A-  
**Fav. Class** Math **Least Fav.** Home Ec.  
**Fav Teacher** Mr. Tokuyama **Least** Bannaro  
**What 1 thing would you change about the school system?  
**Give the top 5% students at the mid-year the chance to skip a grade.  
**What activity would you like the school to sponsor?  
**A trip to Kyoto to visit the temples (though she almost wrote down a sweets-making festival, or a comic-con fieldtrip)  
**What Elective classes would you like offered?  
**Computer Programming, Foreign History, Film Studies

It continued on to the end of the page and across the other side. She looked up, having finished writing, and when she saw Shisui yawning she realized she should too, and copied him. She hadn't felt at all drained, though.

"Alright, everyone is done, I see. Run along back to class." Usagi couldn't leave fast enough once the papers were collected.  
+++++++++++++++++

"This is really bad, guys, what do we do?" Usagi asked when the three of them broke off to talk at lunch. They had stepped into an unused stairwell.

"Should we call Luna?" asked a tired (and drained) Naru. Ami whipped out her communicator and punched the cat's head button. A second later the mau's face appeared.

"What's so important?" she asked.

"There's a youma at school impersonating the principal and draining students. Worse, Zoicite is watching over him. What do we do?"

"We have to stop it now," added Usagi. "Its already got a lot of energy and it might not be here at the end of the day."

"That…is very bad. Do you know where the principal really is? Revealing the fake might be helpful. And how long do you have to work?"

"The Mercury computer said he was tied up in the closet, asleep but alive. Lunch lasts thirty minutes, so I'd say we have twenty to work with."

"I suggest an in and out mission at top speed. Make a mist for cover, Moon dusts the youma and Mercury gets the principal, and get him to sound the alarm."

"And me?" asked Naru.

"Sound the alarm too. Yell for help when they break out into the hall to run."

"And of course, if anyone asks, they were with me the whole time and were never near the senshi."

"Precisely. This is one place where your alibi may be indispensable."

"Alright. Moon Power: Make Up!"

"Mercury Power: Make Up!"

"The coast is clear," said Naru, checking the hall. "Run for it." The two senshi moved. Naru waited half a second and moved into the hallway, tensing.

"Crap, the secretary," hissed Usagi, peering through the office window. "We'll have to move her. Follow me." To Ami's surprise Usagi slipped into the office, making no move to hide. Instead, she held up a finger and made a shushing noise at the secretary when them woman saw them. Then she hissed a rapid but quiet speech.

"Don't make any noise, please! If you've been reading the papers you'll know who we are, and yes, we're real! Mr. Raikon has been replaced by a youma in disguise that's draining the students slowly, and by this time tomorrow it will be a matter of life and death. Please trust us and we'll prove it in a few seconds, 'cause the real principal is tied up in the closet. Don't make any noise, just get ready to sound the alarm, or stay out of our way, please."

Ami held her breath as the secretary looked at them with wide eyes. She glanced to the door and back and her face firmed.

"You saved me when I was at the wedding," the woman replied slowly and quietly. "Thank you. I believe you. I can turn on the fire alarm, if you want."

"Yes!" Usagi covered her mouth, but after a moment it appeared she hadn't alerted anyone. "Thank you. Are there students in there right now?"

"Yes."

"Wait for them to leave, then turn on the fire alarm. One sec." Usagi ducked out the door. "We're pulling the fire alarm instead, so cancel the distraction," she hissed down the hall to Naru. The girl gave a thumbs-up in reply, and swung around the corner. There were a tense few minutes as the senshi ducked out of sight, and the secretary was visibly sweating. Then the door opened and five students walked out. As soon as the last one was out of the office Usagi reappeared and gave a nod. The fire alarm rang and Usagi burst through the office door.

"Mercury Spray Shroud!" Ami was right on her heels and yanked open the closet. An identical copy of the principal was bound and gagged on the floor, and he squirmed a little when he saw her. She hoisted him over one shoulder and retreated.

"Moon Tiara Magic!" Unfortunately, the youma ducked under the desk, but Usagi flicked her wrist at Zoicite and the tiara almost took his arm off. His counter-attack purple blast, even though he was blind, caught Usagi's right shoulder and tossed her back.

"Ah!" The wound burned like it was covered in fire ants, and Usagi bit off a cry of pain and rolled into crouch before dodging again. She could barely move the arm and grabbed her tiara left-handed. "Moon Tiara Magic!"

"Get her!" Zoicite yelled at the youma. Its skull elongated, its lips pulled back into a rictus-like grin baring shark-teeth, and its skin turned purple as its legs rearranged the joints. The demon jumped over her tiara, _No fair, how do they keep dodging,_ and hurled itself in her general direction. _Must have been the yell. Yell!_

"HIIIIIAAAAHHH!" The almost tangible wave of sound slammed into the youma mid-air, and it hit the ground in a tumble. Usagi grinned and jumped back, putting it between her and her tiara. It squealed as the disk nearly took its head off.

"Hiiiiiiiyyyy!" The youma's eyes glowed for a moment and pain washed over Usagi. It felt as though her skin was on fire.

She flinched back.

It leaped.

She hit the floor.

Usagi screamed as she found her self nose to nose with the monster, and that probably saved her. The sound waves blew away the pain and this time the monster flinched away, curling up in pain over her stomach. It was point blank range.

"Moon Tiara Magic!"

"I'll kill you!" shrieked Zoicite, who apparently could feel the youma's destruction. The mist had faded slightly, possibly due to Mercury's absence, and he leapt at her. As he raced out the door the secretary stepped out of hiding—_Oh no, she's going to get killed!_—and slammed her chair into his face.

Zoicite crumpled like a paper doll and she kicked him in the ribs before throwing a potted plant at his head. _Or not. Wow, she's awesome. I should really learn her name._

"Don't hurt the students, bitch." she snapped. _I wonder if she gives lessons,_ Usagi thought.

"Moon Tiara Magic!"

"Not the face!" Zoicite wheezed, and he teleported away. There was a moment of silence. The door opened and Ami—still in uniform—walked in supporting Mr. Raikon.

"Sorry about the mist. I forgot about it while waking him," the teen genius apologized.

"We managed," said Usagi. She turned to the heroic secretary. "Please don't ever ever ever do that again because I thought you were going to get _killed_, but I want you to know that you were really, really awesome. What's your name again?"

"I...I'm Suzume Shihoin," Suzume said with a smile.

"What—What now?" asked Mr. Raikon. At Usagi's questioning look he explained, "I wasn't asleep, just immobilized. She wanted me as a hostage for when you appeared. That bitch took great pleasure in telling me what she was going to do when they conquered the world."

"That was a guy in a dress," Usagi said drily.

"Really?"

"Yup. And he looked better than I would, too. Filled out bra and all."

"No one got caught in the crossfire, and there were no witnesses since everyone left the building, and no casualties," Ami said crisply. "If you want to keep it simple no one would no what happened, just play off the damage as an accident. Or you could call the police."

"Either way," said Usagi, "we should probably get back to class before Ms. Harun—shit!" She slapped her hands over her mouth as Ami looked horrified. "Okay, you could probably figure out who we are 'cause I'm a total idiot but please don't!" she babbled.

"There are ways of making people talk, and our enemies know them all." Ami shot a frightened look at Usagi, and then looked the two administrators in the eye. "What you don't know can't hurt you—or us." The principal nodded and walked over to the desk.

"Attention Juuban High. This is Mr. Raikon speaking. Due to a suspected gas leak I am issuing a school-wide early dismissal, effective immediately. There will be school tomorrow unless otherwise informed." He turned off the intercom.

Usagi was dancing and could faintly hear cheers from outside.

"That should be enough cover, right? And you should know that I am calling the police about this." The senshi nodded their thanks and raced around the corner where they met up with Naru. A de-transformation later and the three headed out.  
++++++++++++++++++++

"Usagi, shouldn't you be in school?" Motoki asked when they walked through the doors of the Crown. "I can't condone you cutting, you know."

"He has a point. Aren't your grades bad enough already, Odango," drawled a voice behind them. Usagi spun around to see Mamoru entering.

"Eat worms and die," she snapped in reply, and he smirked.

"Back already, Mamoru?" said Haruka at the counter. "Was your emergency errand really that fast?" He looked embarrassed.

"I ran several blocks before I remembered I had already taken care of it yesterday," he admitted. _Actually the senshi fight was done by the time I got there. I hope everything went alright, but since I didn't see ambulances I'll hope for the best._

"There was a gas leak at school, so we got out early," Ami explained as they all took their seats. Usagi and Mamoru acted annoyed that they were sitting together, but Haruka noted that neither of them changed seats. A cheer came from across the room.

"Hey, what's the fuss about?" Usagi asked, seeing a group of people gathered around a machine. She moved over to the crane game to see a man playing with a pile of toys at his feet.

"Not again," Motoki groaned. The American exchange student had gone home for some reason, but apparently had decided to continue studying abroad when the emergency was over.

"Joe! You're back in town!"

The young man turned to grin at his fellow arcade-game master. "Usagi, it's good to see you, too. You want?"

"Thanks!" Usagi squealed, grabbing the Sailor M plushy he had won. "You good for a round or two of space invaders later? My treat."

"Sorry, but I'm only killing time. I have to leave for a class in a few minutes. Maybe tomorrow."

"Okay!" she chirped and hugged him quickly before bouncing back to the counter, clutching her new plushy. Haruka again noted that, given the choice, she still sat next to Mamoru. Conversation trailed lazily for a few minutes, excluding Usagi's war with Mamoru.

"Excuse me, guys," said Naru, catching everyone's attention. "Does anyone know of a good dojo we could take lessons at? I want to learn some self-defense." Motoki shook his head, but Haruka grinned and swallowed.

"I'm a second dan," Haruka said with a grin. "I'd be happy to give you girls some lessons free of charge. Ya don't even have to buy uniforms and stuff."

"I'm only a brown belt," Mamoru added, "but I'd be happy to pitch in, too."

"I bet you'd love grappling with us, perv," Usagi groused.

"I bet you'd love grappling with Haruka," Mamoru countered.

"Since you girls have time free, how about we do this today and you can see if you like my style," Haruka suggested. "If ya do, we work out a schedule of times to meet and train, and if ya don't, I recommend you ta my dojo. Deal?"

"I'm in," Naru said immediately. Usagi and Ami shared a look and agreed.

"Alright, finish the shakes and we'll hit the park. Only until four-thirty, though."

"Why? We can stay later than that."

"After that I have to practice racing. I'm competing in the opening race of the new arena opening up next week."  
++++++++++++++++++++++

"The first thing to do," Haruka said to his students in the park, "is to learn the basic stances. These are the most important things in fighting, because they decide how you fight. Now I want you to do what I do." Haruka slid into a basic stance and the three girls did their best to imitate. Mamoru walked around, correcting them as needed. Usagi blushed when he put his hands on her hips to shift her weight back, but since he didn't say anything she didn't either.

"All set," Mamoru told the blond.

"Good. Now this is a very basic stance: your weight is balanced, your left arm is ready to block, and your right arm is ready to punch. I want you to remember how it feels, because I'm going to train you to slip into it at any moment. When I yell 'Form!' I want you to immediately slip into this form, even if you're doing something else at the time. Got it?" The girls all nodded.

"Yes, sensei," Naru quipped.

"Okay, you relax now. The first thing we're going to—form!" The three of them jumped and tried to put themselves back into the stance. Haruka and Mamoru both helped them position themselves properly: shifting Usagi's weight back, squaring Ami's shoulders, and pointing Naru's toes the right way.

"I have to admit I wouldn't have expected that either," Mamoru said ruefully.

"You also don't 'xpect to be mugged," replied Haruka. Now the first thing I'm going to teach you is how to punch, and then we're going to cover a basic kick. Then I'm going to make you repeat them for an hour while I randomly yell 'Form!'"

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"You're not as evil as he is, but you're getting there," Usagi grumbled darkly.

"I'll have to up the ante then," Mamoru said. He noticed, however, that though Usagi grumbled many times over the next hour, she never actually complained, argued, or tried to quit. It gave him an odd feeling of pride.

"What now?" asked Usagi when Haruka finally declared the hour over.

"Next we work on fitness, since knowing how to attack doesn't mean anything if you aren't strong enough to make it hurt." The blond eyed Ami in particular, who was almost passed out face down on the ground. "Mamoru and I will spot you on pushups, first, so blue here can rest. Then he'll put you two through your paces while I give her some special attention." Ami moaned piteously. The torment began anew.

Finally it was four-fifteen. The girls had run laps, done pushups, sit ups, jumping jacks, squats, and another thirty punches and kicks each. Ami was flat on her back again, Naru was sitting next to her, and Usagi was still standing, barely.

"I feel stinky," the short blonde complained.

"You mean sticky?"

"No. Stinky."

"So, do you wanna do this again sometime?" Haruka asked.

"What if we do? I'm up for it," Usagi asked.

"Next lesson I'll actually spar with you, and maybe teach you how to hit guys where it hurts, since those bastards are the main guys you'll have to worry about."

_Oh, I wish it was that simple,_ Usagi thought.

"I don't have to be the practice dummy, do I?" Mamoru asked worriedly.

"If you want my help on our project."

"I'm in," Usagi said with a wild grin, looking at Mamoru.

"Out of luck, Chiba," Haruka said carelessly. "And you two?"

"I'll be there," Naru wheezed, flipping back her bedraggled hair. Ami picked herself off the ground a few inches and nodded with a groan of acceptance.

"Good to hear," said Haruka with a smirk. "You get off at three ten, right? Meet me back here at three thirty and we'll do another hour of this, okay? Now for homework, do ten squats and ten pushups. And take a bath, you all reek."

The girls glared. Ami may even have growled. If looks could kill, Haruka would be nothing more than a chalk outline on the pavement. Since looks can't kill, he tossed them a jaunty wave and walked away, perfectly healthy and cheerful. Mamoru stayed to watch as the girls pulled themselves together.

"My everything hurts," Naru groaned. It took her and Usagi both to pull Ami off the ground, and she promptly draped herself across the blonde.

"I thought swimming kept my body appropriately healthy. I wish I had found out I was wrong in a less stressful way. This is rather discouraging."

"Yeah, well, we all got through it, didn't we?" Usagi was somehow still pretty bright and chipper. "Just think about how much better this'll make us."

"Nevertheless, I shall have to revisit my anatomy books. To quote: I hurt in places I didn't know I had."

"And on that note," said Mamoru, "I'd like to know if you girls need any help."

"Not unless you happen to have any crutches," Usagi replied.

"Med student I may be, but even I am not that prepared. I do, however, have a car. Do any of you want to ride home in style?" He smirked.

"Yes, please," chorused both Ami and Naru in sync. Usagi frowned.

"Alriiiight," she finally conceded. "I guess I should make sure they get home." The three followed Mamoru to his car—a rather classy convertible—and piled in the back. Rather, Ami and Naru slumped into the back seat, and Usagi barely slid into the space they left free. Talking was kept to a minimum except for directions. Naru was dropped off first, and Ami was seen to the door of her apartment complex.

"So where to, Odango," Mamoru quipped. She pouted and gave him the street. "You do realize I could have dropped you off earlier?"

"Yeah, but I wanted to make sure that they got home okay," replied Usagi, feeling the need to needle. "I couldn't be sure that you wouldn't take advantage of their tired bodies, perv."

"_Must_ you call me that? And how do you know I won't take advantage of _your_ tired body?"

"Well, you _were_ watching me a lot this afternoon, perv, and you had your hands on me more than the others. But I know I could run or scream rape if I had to."

"I did?" Mamoru was genuinely confused. He wracked his brain for his actions the past few hours and was mortified to realize that she was right. He was glad she was in the back and couldn't see him blush. "Oh, sorry about that. Really. I didn't realize it at the time." _I already have the princess, dammit. And there may be something with Sailor Moon, too. I really don't need another infuriatingly cute blonde in my life…GAH! She not cute! She's a Dumpling Head! And she's fourteen! FOURTEEN! Snap out of it!_

"You know," Usagi said after a short silence, "this car's pretty cool. I bet it was really expensive. Compensating for anything?" she teased.

"Do you want me to make you walk?"

"Meh. I'd live. But isn't college supposed to be really expensive? Are your parents doctors like Ami's mom, too? 'Cause she's pretty rich, and she wants to study medicine too?" After several moments of silence she realized she had probably said something wrong. _Oops._ "I'm sorry. If I insulted you, I mean. Ami didn't like it either."

"It's fine," Mamoru said quietly. "You couldn't have known they were dead."

"Oh. Oh! That's awful! I'm really reallyreally sorry! You have my, uh, deepest condos. Condones?"

"Condolences, Odango Atama."

"Yeah, those."

"Really, it's fine. They died in a car crash when I was six. I can't even remember them, just waking up in the hospital. That's-"

"I'm still sorry. I can't imagine growing up without my mom or dad, or Shingo, even if I get annoyed sometimes. You can't remember at all?"

"Nothing. I hit my head and lost my memories. That's why I'm—" he choked off, thinking before he spoke.

"What?"

"That's why I started studying medicine in the first place," Mamoru lied. _I can't believe I almost let slip about the princess! And being Tuxedo Kamen! I have to watch what I say: it's too easy to talk to her when we aren't insulting each other._ "So what do you want to do when you grow up, Odango? Marry a rich guy and laze around?" Surprisingly, she didn't blow up like he wanted.

"Hah ha. Ha. Actually, I think I want to be a teacher. Not regular kids, but maybe the really little ones in kindergarten or preschool. Or kids who are blind or stuff."

"Preschool, because you don't need a good education to teach kids that age?" He said, hoping to spark up an argument again. This peaceful conversation felt too raw.

"Again, hah. I like kids, and I like helping people. I don't think that dream'll work out anymore, though, but we'll see." _Maybe we won't always have to be fighting and protecting the princess. Maybe we'll win and everything'll go back to normal. _ She grimaced. _ Or worse, maybe we'll lose and it won't matter._ "There's my house!"

"Begone, foul demon," Mamoru said drily as he pulled over. Usagi hopped out, and to his surprise she twisted around and hugged him. He was surprised at how nice her arms felt around his neck, and only just caught himself from returning the gesture.

"I _am_ sorry about what I said," she repeated. Then she raced around through her front door. Mamoru sat there for several seconds, remembering the feel of her arms and the smell of her hair, sweaty though it was. Her face had been close to his, and one part of his mind wondered if her lips would be soft. _I've never met the princess in real life. In fact, given that she's never changed, she could very well be years older than me. I know almost nothing about Sailor Moon, except that we are nominally on the same side, and that I have an instinct to protect her. And Usagi is fourteen. FOURTEEN! She's too young; she's a freshman in high school; she's not _that_ much younger than me; gah, no, she's a child! _ He shook his head with a sigh. _ And I'm not sure I care.  
++++++++++++++++_

"You look tired," said Luna as she crawled onto Usagi's bed that night. "Was the youma at the school that tough?"

"No problem, except that I was a complete, total, utter, and absolute idiot!" She threw the manga she had been reading against the wall, knocking a pen to the floor.

"What? Quiet, Usagi, we don't want your parents to hear! What happened? Did someone get hurt?"

"No. I nearly had a heart attack when I saw that Ms. Shihoin hadn't run away and hid, but she was awesome. Slammed a file cabinet on Zoicite's head and threw a potted plant at him. I think it was a fern…"

"Flora species aside, what went wrong?"

"I almost blew our cover to her and Mr. Raikon."

"You WHAT! HOW? Do they know?"

"Quiet, Luna, you don't want my parents to hear, do you?" Usagi mocked. "I let slip that we should get back to class before Ms. Haruna sees that we're gone. So he knows that we're students in her class. But he decided that he didn't want to find out more since Ami told him he might be made to talk if he knows. He gave everyone an early dismissal because of the youma attack—he pretended it was a gas leak—so that the teachers wouldn't take roll. So we're safe."

"That's good. I'd ask you to be more careful, but I think you already know. From how effective you've been in the past I'd never have expected that mistake."

"Yeah but the dismissal thing caused me problems earlier, too. Ami, Naru, and I went to the Crown to celebrate a successful mission, and Haruka and Mamoru were there. Right in the middle of talking Naru asked if anyone knew a good dojo."

"She mentioned that after the library attack, I remember. Mamoru, not jerk?"

"Sh-shut up," Usagi stuttered, blushing. "So he and Haruka are both good, but Haruka's better, and he offers to give us lessons free. We've got all afternoon to kill, so we do a practice lesson in the park. Wait, crud." Usagi rolled onto her floor with a thud, wincing as her sore muscles protested the treatment.

"What is it?" Luna asked, as Usagi began doing pushups.

"Homework: ten crunches and ten pushups. And I already took a bath. Anyway, the lesson was pretty basic. We learn a stance, a punch, and a kick. But we don't just learn it; we _learn_ it. He must have drilled us for like an hour. Then we do a lot of exercises: running, jumping, the works. For the first time I'm glad I have to dash to school so often. Ami and Naru got waaay more tired than me. They were wrecked. Crud." She stood up, winced, and began doing crunches. "I told Ami I'd do her patrol tonight. I'm gonna be late tomorrow, I bet."

"Actually, I can let you off the hook for tonight," said Luna smugly, almost purring at Usagi's grateful look. "The reason I'm back so late is that I found out where the next attack will be. There's an auction coming up in a few days, and I actually saw Zoicite putting up the flyers for it himself. Rather, herself."

"Dark cloud, silver lining," Usagi quipped. "So at the end we're all tired, but we agreed to another lesson tomorrow. So then Mamoru drives everyone home, and we talked, which is why I'm not calling him jerkwad anymore. But when I get home all hell breaks loose."

"Oh my. Well, you don't _look_ grounded for eternity."

"It was close. First my mother was worried about me when I didn't come home after the early dismissal. And it gets worse when I get driven home by a guy who's older than me, and who they've never met. And when you take in the fact that I looked really rumpled, all hell was breaking loose on me." Usagi paused, finishing her crunches. "Wow, I'm swearing a lot more recently. Damn stress. But anyway, I had to talk fast to keep from being grounded, and my dad looked ready to send me to a nunnery."

"I can imagine that would be trying. Go to sleep, Usagi. Goodnight"  
+++++++++++++++++

At 2 in the morning Usagi bolted awake, just barely biting down a scream. The cockroach youma in her dreams had gained a friend in today's monster of the week. She whimpered as she remembered seeing her classmates' dismembered corpses strewn across the room.

"Mrrrm?" Luna whined in her sleep. Usagi slowly slipped out of the bed and out of her room. When she was sure she wasn't going to vomit, she padded downstairs to raid the fridge. Celery was good at getting bad tastes out of her mouth, she knew.

"Or I can replace it with an even worse taste with some…_carrots,_" she grumbled. And since she knew sleep wouldn't be coming, she decided to spend an hour on the computer and pray she wasn't caught. Maybe that manga website would get her mind off of things.  
++++++++++++++++++

Well, everyone, here's the next exciting installment. Most of this was just pacing and development, but there was some foreshadowing, too. Some people might think that the battles are going too, easily, but look at it like this. Usagi is the most powerful of a group of professional demon hunters, even if her powers haven't matured. Any one youma is a relatively weak foe in comparison, considering that her basic spells can **vaporize **them in one hit.

Tough battles will be the ones where they're trying to trap her, where they pull out several youma to dog-pile her, or youma with special abilities show up. And yes, the Shadow Warriors will be showing up, around chapter 14 or 15, most likely. I'm doing something a bit different with the idea, but not too much so.

See you again in a week, and I love all you reviewers. And all my readers in general. Bye!


	6. Red Blood, White Moonlight, Pink Power

Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon.

Caution: Usagi now contains 40% more humiliation, 50% more genre-savvy, and 60% more badass. Zoicite is gonna get _hurt_.  
+++++++++++++++++

"Zoicite, report!" Queen Beryl commanded. The general appeared. "What news do you have, aside from the loss of another youma? It had best be good."

"It is, your majesty," he hastily assured her. He held out his hands and energy pooled in them, sparkling, before wafting up to Beryl for her inspection. Then it glimmered into the prison and Metaria shifted, shaking the caves. "The senshi intervened once we were half-way through, but we still gathered a sizeable return of energy."

"This is good," Beryl affirmed quietly. "I expected better, but this is sufficient for now. Be warned, however, that my patience grows thin."

"My Queen," he began, but she cut him off.

"You have still cost us eight youma in total, and lost a sizeable amount of energy. It is primarily due to Kunzite's infrequent donations that we can continue operating silently. What are your plans to rectify this?"

"I have ideas for two attacks planned in the next few days, your majesty. One in three days, and one in five, and preparations are proceeding well on both."

"Details?"

"In three days I shall simply drain a small group of humans who have gathered out of greed. However, the location is further away from the transport gate than any of our operations before, so I hope that distance shall afford us some time. However, the attack in five days is one I have been building up to since Imime's loss."

"What is your plan? That failure left a bad taste in my mouth, Zoicite. You have _much_ to atone for. How have you been trying to keep the sluts out in the past?"

"I have noticed, your majesty, that the senshi are drawn much more quickly by the threat of civilian deaths. This may be useful for luring them into a trap later, but when we want them to stay away it is a bad thing."

"Obviously."

"Thus I have, in the past few projects, drained the cattle only to the point of exhaustion. This tactic has repeatedly bought me several hours before they stick their noses in. Though leaving the insects unharmed decreases the quality of the energy, and is rather annoying…"

"If it keeps them away," Beryl said with a whimsical sigh, " then I suppose it must be tolerated. But the circus was still a failure due to your idiotic decision to leave before the project was completed, and I simply can't forgive you for losing my Draigoth."

"My deepest, sincerest apologies, your majesty. However, the ideas were good ones—especially the circus. Thus, I intend to replicate it in a stadium, only I will remain present to supervise. However, for the best chance of success, I might request a small boon, my queen."

"You ask a lot, general. Very well, ask, but do not expect a good answer. I have not much energy to spare you, and I will not waste another of my youma."

"Not _your_ youma, your majesty. General Jadeite, I believe, has in his service a youma that can drain large quantities of energy at great speeds. Its aid, combined with my own youma and supervision, will ensure success." Beryl hmmed.

"Come, General Jadeite." Her voice echoed with power as she commanded, and the blond appeared.

"I live to serve thy will, your majesty."

"Good. Remember that. How are our wards and protections developing?"

"As smoothly as I can manage, my queen."

"We have recently received an amount of energy from Zoicite, at the cost of another youma, of course. How will this speed things?" She pulled forth a part of the power and tossed him the energy.

"Your majesty, with this much I should be done in a week or less, and the wards will stand on their own." _Take that, fem-boy. _

"Do you hear, Zoicite? If you have not improved by the time the wards are done, I shall replace you. However, I hear your plea, as you did get this energy. Jadeite, you have a youma that excels at draining energy in your service, yes?"

"The gluttonous Aetar, your majesty."

"Zoicite has requested its aid in a new project, and I am inclined to grant that request. However," she continued, seeing Jadeite open his mouth, "if this attempt to gain energy fails, I shall give you a chance to prove your superiority. Understood?"

"Yes, my queen," Jadeite said. _Zoicite, you fool. What are you planning? Aetar has no combat skills and can be defeated with great ease. Oh well. Once you have fallen, I shall become Beryl's greatest general, surpassing even Kunzite, the smug bastard. Then, if my efforts awaken Great Metaria, perhaps I shall be raised above even Beryl and rule all of creation.  
+++++++++++++++++++++_

"Alright, good to see you're all here," said Haruka to the gathered girls at the park. "I should have done this yesterday, but I wanted to start off easy."

"That was EASY!?" chorused the students incredulously.

"Eh, sort of. Today, you're going to take turns fighting me one on one. Don't just use the stuff from yesterday; you can fight however you like. Barefoot, though. The last time I did this in shoes it hurt a lot." Grumbling, the girls took off their shoes and socks.

"The grass feels nice," Usagi said, wiggling her toes.

"Mamoru, you're our referee. Blue, you first. Then red, then Koneko."

"Why aren't I yellow?"

"Because I'm yellow. Ready blue?"

"Begin!" called Mamoru. They both waited in their stances for a time, before Ami finally decided to make a move. She inched forward, waiting to see if Haruka would respond. No moves. Ami launched the textbook kick (imperfect but a good attempt) at Haruka, who simply slid back.

As the right foot returned to the ground, Ami shifted her weight forward to pursue Haruka's retreat, only for her opponent to slip forward, attacking.

Ami had dropped her arms while kicking, and Haruka drilled a light jab at her ribs before slipping around behind her. Panicking, she whirled around, terminally compromising her footing, and Haruka dumped her on the ground with a leg sweep.

"Match!"

"Spar's over," Haruka said, helping Ami up. "Who can tell me what went wrong? Naru?"

"She dropped her arms, I think. I saw you hit her ribs, right?"

"That's right, anything else?" Usagi's hand shot up.

"It looked like she turned wrong." Haruka motioned for her to elaborate. "Well…when she kicked and you dodged she tried to move forward, but she jerked back when you moved at her. When I try to do that while running I end up eating dirt."

"That's right. But you mentioned her turn?"

"Okay…" Usagi chewed on her lip, trying to put vague ideas into words. "So her right side was pointed at you. You moved to your left, toward her back. When she turned, she stood on her left foot, the same foot she stood on when she kicked, because she'd jerked back, and she turned… counterclockwise?"

"Yeah, 'think so. Does it matter?"

"I just get them mixed up," Usagi admitted, sweatdropping. "But that messed up her feet and you dropped her. If she kept moving forward and stood on her right foot and turned clockwise, it would be like ballet, and she could have ended up behind you. Would that work?"

"Meh. That could have worked," Haruka said, mildly impressed. "It wouldn't have been perfect, but hey, you're just beginning. Mamoru, did they miss anything?"

"Once she shifted her weight forward she should have kept going forward as follow-through. But it was a mistake to try to go forward right then, too—it left her open."

"Alright, we'll work on that stuff later. Red, you're next." Naru took the form opposite Haruka.

"Begin!" Naru also inched forward after a short wait, but Usagi also noticed that she was bouncing on her toes a little. She snapped a punch at Haruka, which was dodged. So was a second one. A third was blocked. Then Naru snapped off a fourth and immediately launched a kick afterward.

Haruka was slightly surprised but blocked the foot. Naru followed through and attempted to get in Haruka's guard with another punch, but was also dumped on the ground instead.

"Owie," she mumbled. "I did good, right?"

"Yup, there was a lot less wrong with the fight," Haruka agreed. "Can anyone tell me what went wrong here?" Usagi hesitantly raised her hand.

"This isn't school, Odango," Mamoru teased. She frowned at him and spoke.

"She shouldn't have kept going?" Usagi ventured.

"It's called following through. Explain."

"If she pulled back she would have kept standing and tried again, I think."

"Close enough," Haruka agreed.

"Don't forget that yellow here," Haruka shot Mamoru a glance at the name, but said nothing as he continued, "Is bigger, stronger, heavier, and more experienced than any of you. You won't win. If you had to fight someone like him in real life you should aim between the legs and run. That was a good spar for a beginner, though."

"He's right," Haruka agreed. "Also, bouncing on your feet is good for mobility and balance. I'm surprised you knew to do that. Alright Koneko, you're up."

"Last but not least, I hope," Usagi chirped drolly. Yes, chirping drolly doesn't make sense, but she doesn't know that.

"Begin!" Usagi stayed still for a moment. Then she began bouncing on her feet the way Naru did. Then she hopped forward and drilled a punch at Haruka. It was blocked and Usagi followed up with a kick that was dodged.

She immediately moved back, pulled her arms in, and blocked Haruka's punch. Then she bounced back threw another punch, and her arms lowered enough for Haruka to take advantage and throw a quick jab. It hit her ribs, Usagi tried to punch back, and then she _jumped_ three and a half feet up and swung a kick at Haruka's head.

It was a completely unexpected move, _especially_ the height of the jump, but Haruka managed to duck under Usagi's leg easily.

"OOF!"

Unfortunately, Usagi had also jumped a little forward, and thus landed square on Haruka, ending with them tangled up on the ground. There were several seconds of tangled squawking before they finally rolled apart. Usagi looked shocked and Haruka, for the first time they had seen, looked embarrassed.

"Match," called Mamoru, barely restraining his laughter. Usagi pointed a shaking finger and finally forced out words.

"Why do you have BOOBS?" Everyone else went quiet and looked at Haruka, who was imitating a tomato. He, now ousted as a she, squirmed and finally broke.

"Alright, I'm a chick, okay? But I also do racing and the stupid glass ceiling makes it almost impossible for girls to get a backer, no matter how good I am. I've always felt comfortable in guys' clothes, so I just started wearing them all the time so I could do what I loved, okay? I'm not a pervert, I'm not a transsexual, and I'm not confused or experimenting, and it isn't just a phase. And yes, I still like girls. I'm a lesbian and proud of it, and I was a lesbian even when I was fourteen and obsessed with make-up, jewelry, and frilly pink underwear. Any problems?"

She was now looking resolutely at the ground as the others digested the rant. Everyone considered this. Mamoru spoke first.

"No problems here, I just wish I wasn't in danger of drowning in all the estrogen. I need to get Motoki or another guy over for support," he joked.

"Yeah, Haruka, we love you just the way you are, boobs and all! Even if we didn't know you had boobs before we still loved them. Does that make sense?"

"What Usagi is trying to say is that you're our friend. This isn't going to change that," Ami said.

"Ditto to what everyone else said," Naru agreed. "I want to hear how you kept it a secret, though. Does your college know, and stuff? Aren't there records?"

"Thanks guys," Haruka said quietly. "The college knows, but no one really looks at whether someone checked the guy or girl box on forms, so they'll just ignore when I check girl, or think I wasn't paying attention, or stuff."

"Bureaucracy strikes again," Mamoru drawled.

"Bingo. My parents and little brother know, obviously, and so would anyone I grew up with, but I grew up in Osaka. I never really had anyone here I could trust with this stuff. So, thanks. Just…thanks."

"Like I said, we love you the way you are," said Usagi. Haruka picked herself up, cocky grin back in place.

"It means a lot to me guys. Form!" The three girls jumped and shifted into the stance. "Now let's get this lesson going. Like I said, I'm going to show you how to hurt a guy. Mamoru, you get to be our test dummy…" He groaned. Usagi grinned wickedly.  
+++++++++++++++++

"Luna, explain the situation," Usagi said as the girls lounged in Naru's room later that night. They had convinced their parents to let them have a sleepover at Naru's during the week, and they had brought their supplies for school the next day. Luna had snuck in through the window.

"Thursday evening there is going to be an estate sale at Mataki Street. I looked around and didn't see anything too suspicious, but Zoicite was on the street personally sending out advertisements and hanging up fliers for it so _something_ must be happening."

"Is it possible that this is a red herring designed to attract our attention?" Ami asked. "That the commanding officer would get personally involved in tasks that are so unimportant and easily delegated, as well as extraordinarily public, seems suspicious to me."

"That could be, but we have several things to consider. One, the Dark Kingdom presumably isn't powerful enough for any overt moves yet, or we'd be facing open war, and we'd be losing. Two, Zoicite's only underlings, presumably, are youma. We can tell a youma from several blocks away, so the only chance at secrecy Zoicite has is to act on his own."

"What if he teams up with another one of the Generals? There are four, right?" Usagi asked.

"From previous observations I would judge that highly unlikely. Three, I've been reading the newspaper reports on the senshi activities, mostly positive since you have apparently saved several reporters, and there are almost no mentions of Zoicite despite his presence."

"We're in the newspapers? Cool! I'm famous!" Usagi trilled. Naru bopped her on the head.

"That's not a good thing, Usagi. You know, secret identities and stuff?

"Oh. Right. Man, I wanted to like being famous."

"Only the wedding report mentioned that the priest had mysteriously disappeared. Thus I feel I can conclude that he has a weak disguise field, similar to ours, and doesn't know that we can see through it."

"I am on patrol tonight, correct?" Ami said. "I'll look around with my visor just in case. These attacks have occurred in quick succession in the past."

"Good idea," Usagi said. "Just be back in time for a midnight snack. Popcorn always tastes best when eaten with friends."

"I will. Mercury Power: Make Up!" Naru and Uasgi watched the transformation. No matter how often they saw it, it never stopped being interesting to watch magic conjure substance from nothing. Ami slipped out the window.  
++++++++++++++++

Forty-five minutes later, a pale Sailor Mercury slipped back through the window and de-transformed. The look on Ami's face spoke of news, bad news.

"I found something," the bluenette said somberly. There's a stadium under renovation, the Soratsuki Stadium, and there are traces of dark energy all over it."

"Huh…That name rings a bell," Usagi wondered aloud. "Where have I heard it?"

"There have only been ads about it for the past few weeks," Naru said drily. "Hey, didn't the renovations start just after the first attack at Mom's store?"

"Haruka invited us to her race at its grand reopening on Saturday," Ami said quietly. There was a pause. "I couldn't see exactly what, but according to my visor, the traces of energy looked like preparations for a force field, probably to keep us out."

"So the circus again, except bigger," Usagi mused. A metaphorical light bulb clicked on. "Hey, now that we know that Haruka's a girl, do you think that she's a senshi?" That surprised the other two.

"What makes you think that?" Naru asked.

"Well she's a girl. She's really good at fighting, like the way I can run and Ami can think. And I know that I liked her the minute I met her, like with Ami. And now she's being caught in the middle of a youma attack, just like Ami was. The clues are all there!"

"Yeah, sure, if this was a badly written fiction story," Naru retorted. "Believe it or not, Usagi, there can be people we know who have cool skills and have nothing to do with our fight. Besides, didn't Luna say that the inner senshi were all around the same age? I hate to say it, but life doesn't work that perfectly."

"I guess…" Usagi drooped a little. Ami made an odd noise. Everyone turned to her.

"Actually, considering that the chances of Usagi and I meeting at the time we did were astoundingly low, it may be worth looking into."

"You think?"

"Really? Yes! Genius girl says I'm right! Hah!"

"If the senshi could have been reincarnated anywhere in the world, then the probability of Usagi and I meeting, especially so soon after the Dark Kingdom began acting, was effectively zero. It was statistically impossible. You would have a better chance of winning the lottery if you only played once in your life. Also…weren't there outer planet senshi who were of a different age?"

"Okay, now that is a good point," Naru conceded. "Who knows, maybe Mamoru has boobs hidden away somewhere?"

"Uh-uh! I would've felt," Usagi blurted out, and she flushed.

"Oh-ho!" Naru crowed. "I noticed that you guys have been getting along better. Were you getting some base action when he drove you home, huh?"

"NO! I-I just m-meant when I f-fell for h-him. I mean ON HIM! Oh crud."

"It's okay, Usagi," said Naru. "I mean, he is _really_ hot. Just remember that he's also in college. And your dad would have a fit if he found out you were dating a guy with his own car."

"We're not dating!" Usagi shrieked. Ami giggled and consoled her.

"It's okay Usagi, we know that." She smirked, and added, "After all, Haruka is the one with the affectionate nickname. But like you said earlier, we'll love you even if you are of the homosexual persuasion." Usagi buried her head in her pillow.

"I hate you both. Good night."

"Good night, and good dreams. Just not _too_ good, okay? Clean sheets."

"I really hate you both. Wait until I can tease you about your crushes, huh."

"You admitted it was a crush!"

"WAAAAHHH!"  
++++++++++++++

Sailor Mercury and Sailor Moon perched on the roof of a building near the lot where the auction would be taking place. Luckily, Zoicite was nowhere in sight. Unluckily, they hadn't identified the youma, either.

Naru had disguised herself and slipped into the crowd, looking for yawns and other telltale signs. Luna was away tailing Haruka, in case Usagi's wild theory turned out to be valid.

"It's starting," Naru hissed into her communicator. "Do you guys see anything? It'll really suck if this is a red herring."

"My visor has yet to pick up anything," Ami said quietly. Usagi was sitting down, apparently meditating as she listened for clues.

"I don't…Wait! I caught something!" The words reverberated in her ears.

"Show time, little insects. Soon you will see why Vaylet is General Zoicite's most trusted servant. Only I could trap these insects. The senshi will never catch me." A woman walked onto stage, to the podium, and her voice reverberated through both her microphone and Usagi's jewels. "Welcome, everyone. Let's get the bidding started with our first piece, a grandfather clock in excellent condition. Do I hear ten-thousand yen?"

"That's her," Usagi said with certainty. "It's the woman doing the auction."

"Usag—Moon, sorry. I'm looking right at her and I'm not seeing anything. Wait." Ami fiddled with her visor's settings and her eyebrows rose. "Wait, I'm not seeing _anything!_ No heat, no electromagnetic waves, and she's impervious to x-rays. You're right."

"Let's wait until the draining starts, just to be certain," Naru said over the communicator. "You wouldn't want to be accused of dusting a normal person, would you?" It was said as a joke, but the idea sent shivers down Usagi's spine. _I'll have to double-check that my tiara is like my sound and Ami's mist. That could be bad._

"Usagi, the drain is starting," Ami said.

"Naru, get in position for emergency backup," Usagi hissed. The redhead, disguised as a goth, slipped out of the back of the crowd and began to surreptitiously move around to the back of the stage. Usagi's gems began to hum.

"Alright!" Usagi yelled, her voice enhanced by the gems, as she leapt off the building and landed behind the crowd. "That's enough. These people are innocent men and woman going about their everyday lives. You have no right to try and steal their energy. Surrender now, or in the name of the Moon, I'm going to punish you!" _Please be an idiot and don't play dumb. Please…yes!_ The youma had dropped its disguise, revealing folds of bland, gray skin. In short, it looked like a disfigured human wrapped up in a whole elephant's skin. People screamed and scrambled away, clearing a path between the senshi and the youma.

"Foolish insects. You think you can fi—"

"Moon Tiara Magic!" Usagi cut off the youma mid-sentence and flung her tiara at it. It rolled to the side, but—

"Aqua Bubble Burst!" Ami had used Usagi's distraction to sneak around and flank it, dousing it in water that immediately iced over. The tiara came back on a return flight, straight at the imprisoned Vaylet. Its form blurred for a moment, and it seemed to slip out of the ice and dodge the tiara.

"So long, sluts! You're first, Moonie." Vaylet wavered and vanished. Mercury immediately pulled up her visor and jumped away. There were no traces of transport magic.

"Moon! It hasn't teleported, it's just hiding from our senses. Even my visor can't find it!" Usagi fell into a basic defensive stance, holding her glowing tiara in her right hand.

"Don't call up a mist, it said it's going for me, so wait fo—ah!" Vaylet had reappeared behind Usagi, claws blurring for the back of her head. Suddenly, the blonde's world spun as she heard a furious shriek. She found herself in Tuxedo Kamen's arms, a safe distance away. He set her down gently.

"You monsters all are cowards, hiding away because you know that good will always triumph. I am Tuxedo Kamen, and I shall not allow you to lay one hand on Sailor Moon while I draw breath!" Usagi saw the youma was peppered with roses, but she was more concerned with how her heart was suddenly beating fats. _My hero._

"Then I'll do it over your dead bo—gah!" The youma, having just finished pulling out the last rose, had been doused in another Aqua Bubble Burst. Then, as it looked to break out, a chair slammed into it, followed by another deluge of cold water.

"Look sharp, ugly!" yelled goth!Naru. She hefted another chair. "Not all humans are content with being prey, you know?"

"Moon Tiara Magic!" Once again the disk should have dusted it, but Vaylet somehow blurred out of the ice and around the tiara.

"Not again," Kamen snapped, and threw another half-dozen roses to fence it in. Then he pulled out his cane and raced forward, cracking it over the head.

"I'm going to kill—" The youma never finished voicing its displeasure. Moon's tiara curved back around as it was preoccupied with Tuxedo Kamen and it exploded into dust. There was a moment of silence. Then Moon turned to Kamen.

"Hey, where were you last time?" He looked a little guilty, from what she could tell.

"My apologies. You finished the fight before I could find you, so I assume you didn't need my help. Did things go alright?"

"As well as could be expected. No casualties. So _who_ are you?"

"I'm who I said I am: Tuxedo Kamen. I'll say no more on that subject unless you go first." Usagi pouted, but couldn't argue the logic.

"Fair enough. Hold that thought. Are you on our side? We've had to deal with double-agents before, and I'd rather that didn't happen to you."

"I honestly am not entirely certain, Sailor Moon." He gave a courtly bow as she frowned.

"So who _are_ you with?"

"At the very least, I am against them, and I am helping you at the request of someone they want dead. So if nothing else, you are the enemy of my enemy."

"Um, excuse me," Ami cut in. The two masked heroes turned to look at her. She gestured at the audience they had acquired. "People are listening. We should go somewhere else, I think." Both looked abashed and the three jumped onto the roofs, but Kamen kept jumping and disappeared.

"Crud, he's gone," said Usagi. "Well, that went pretty well, I think."  
+++++++++++++++

It was midnight, and the park was empty except for two figures in short skirts. A call cut the air.

"Moon Tiara Magic!" Usagi didn't just throw the tiara, though. She gritted her teeth as she tried to make it stay hanging in the air. It was an exercise that was taxing her control in a way that she couldn't quite describe, not having the vocabulary, but it felt as though she were trying to simultaneously keep her hand stiffly tense and immobile, and move it in various ways. It hurt.

"You're doing very well," Ami said, standing off to the side, observing through her visor. Finer telekinetic control over her main attack would be very helpful to Usagi. The tiara floated a meter in front of the blonde, wobbling slightly. Usagi still couldn't control it with her mind alone, as Ami had discovered that the magic traveled through the hand she threw with, and it wobbled slightly as her hand twitched in pain.

"Almost done, Usagi," said Luna. "Just return the tiara to your hand and you can take a break." The circle of light floated back to its wielder as she curled her fingers. The second she grabbed it, her arm dropped to her side with a sigh.

"That hurt," she said. In fact, her hand was shaking slightly as she put the tiara back on her head. "Ami's turn to suffer now, right?"

"Yes," Luna confirmed, "I think it would be best to work on the Aqua Bubble Burst. Your other spell isn't offensive, so there is not much that can be done with it."

"I concur," Ami said, walking into the middle of the clearing. "Allowing people to remain unaffected appears to be the limit of my abilities."

"Perhaps you should focus on how large an area you obscure. For now though, it's best to practice your offensive."

"Aqua Bubble Burst!" The orb of water splashed across the ground, forming a patch of ice. "Though there doesn't seem to be much I can do to alter this, either."

"Can you make more of it?" Usagi asked.

"How so?"

"Like, more than one ball of water? Or maybe a really BIG ball of water! That way you can freeze more than one youma at a time. Oh! Maybe you can freeze the water before it hits them and whack them in the head with a big ball of ice! That would give a youma some really bad brain freeze, I bet."

The girl and mau looked at her in surprise. Ami blinked, and spoke. "Usagi, you have some very good ideas. Thank you." _I have to remember that you aren't as ditzy as you seem. At least everyone else has the same problem, I suppose._

"Just spreading the pain," Usagi responded cheerfully. "The more you can do with your water, the more work Luna is going to _make_ you do, and the more I can rest." The other two face-faulted at the juxtaposition of her mood and her words, and Usagi lay back in the grass.

"Well," Luna said, "if you have enough energy to joke like that, then you can't need so much rest. Break's over. Go practice weaving your tiara through the trees over there."

"Aww…" Usagi trudged off dejectedly, too tired to argue, and Ami focused on her spell.

"Aqua. Bubble. Burst!" She cried through gritted teeth, trying to increase the volume of water. As the bubble flew through the air, her visor told her that it was slightly larger than before, but not by much. _This is going to take a while,_ she concluded.  
++++++++++++++++

"Well," said Usagi stiffly, "I guess this is d-d-day." Naru looked at her strangely.

"Why are you stuttering? You're not _that_ afraid, are you?"

"This is admittedly on a scale larger than any of our activities prior," Ami said, gesturing to the small stadium filled with well over a thousand people.

"I'm not stuttering! I was making a historical reference! You know, the day of the big attack…thingy, happening in World War Two?"

"I believe you mean D-Day, Usagi. Dee," Ami corrected. "And I agree with the sentiment. We tried to stop this attack in the production cycle, but there was never a good opening. Now it's just down to 'wait and hope'." She was henshined, but using the disguise pen, as they reasoned she could provide cover for the others. An interesting side-effect of the disguise, her visor had been turned into a pair of cool blue plastic sunglasses, keeping most of the original functions.

"True," said Naru, and took a sip of her soda, "but hopefully we get to see some cool races before that happens. And besides, I've got my little toy I found." Naru had found something while looking around the stadium, but she refused to say what, wanting it to be a surprise.

"Go Tennou!" The dirt bikes in the arena were beginning to line up for the start of the race. Haruka, number 7 in a blue and yellow outfit, shot a wave in their general direction, even though she was too far away to hear or see them. She then threw a thumbs-up to Mamoru, who had bought his own ticket and was seated in a different part of the stadium.

The crowd fell quiet as a woman—Zoicite in a dress, Ami saw—walked toward the starting line. She could also see that the three men guarding the trophy and pedestal were youma, and there was another source of dark energy nearby, which she told the others about. _A spell on the trophy, maybe?_

"Ladies and gentlemen," and the voice was definitely Zoicite's, "I would like to thank you all for coming to the Soratsuki Stadium's Grand Reopening. Today, for the first time in years, we bring you a dirt bike race, with the victor earning the first place trophy," s/he gestured to a large golden cup standing on an oddly-shaped pedestal of marble in the center of the arena, "and they will have their name carved onto our wall of fame for the ages. Let's have a hand for these historic racers." The crowd erupted into applause, the three girls joining in.

"He certainly is a drama queen," Naru said blithely as they sat back down.

"Yeah. And a bigger _drag_ queen," Usagi agreed.

"Bikers, ready your engines. Three. Two. One. RACE!" The two-dozen bikes roared as everyone cheered for their favorite to win. On Haruka's seventh lap, Usagi's communicator buzzed. She opened it and hunched down to hear.

"Usagi," Luna hissed, barely managing to be heard over the din. "I'm in position. Also, the three guarding the trophy—"

"Are youma," Usagi finished. "Ami told us. She also said there's something near the trophy, but can't tell what without dropping the disguise to change her visor settings."

"It's good that you're prepared. They'll be making their move at the end of the race, I believe. The excitement is generating extraordinary amounts of energy, and it will peak at the finish. Be alert. Good luck." Luna cut the connection and Usagi resumed screaming for Haruka as the lead racers entered the final lap.

The crowd roared as 19 took first place a wheel's length ahead of Haruka, with 23 taking third a heartbeat afterward. However, Usagi began to notice that the screaming was beginning to quiet as other bikers either finished or stopped. Then number 5 simply fell to the ground as the stadium grew silent, and Usagi saw the streams of life force flowing to the trophy. A glow had appeared over the stadium, forming a dome.

"Mercury Spray Shroud!" Ami's yell echoed through the now silent stadium and Zoicite spun around, swearing loudly. The past two days Ami had practiced with summoning mist over large areas, and it paid off as she blanketed almost the entire stadium. Usagi grabbed her brooch.

"Moon Power: Make Up!" Ami and Naru, who had taken over the disguise pen and turned into a red-eyed pinkette, were already running towards the field. Usagi joined them seconds later, before quickly outstripping them as both she and Zoicite raced towards the trophy.

"Hiyah!" Usagi launched herself into a flying kick Haruka had taught her—'Since you already like jumping around so much,' she'd explained—and slammed her foot into the General's face when they were mere meters from the trophy. Both hit the ground hard, but Usagi rolled with the fall, and was on her feet in an instant.

"Moon Tiara Magic!" The tiara's glow gave it away and Zoicite parried with a hastily forged crystal spear. _Crud. Never seen that before._

"Zaplin, Shiroth, guard Aetra! Chiroptera, to me!" he called. The mottled red gremlin-youma and furry white youma moved back toward the trophy while the black youma unfurled a pair of bat wings and threw itself at the general. And suddenly, Usagi saw with a sick horror, the wings had cleared away a patch of fog about ten meters square, and she was visible. "You're going to die for desecrating my good looks, hag," Zoicite sneered.

"Moon Tiar—" Usagi threw herself out of the way of a barrage of flower petals as Chirop-something shot straight up.

She was drawing in breath for a scream when she saw Tuxedo Kamen on the field, running towards her. His head kept turning in different directions, though, and when she realized why she used her breath for a different purpose. "Mercury! Tuxedo Kamen can't see!" The fog faded for a moment.

"Mercury Spray Shroud!" was the reply as Ami recast the mist. Kamen zeroed in on her and raced forward, cane in one hand. He leapt out of the mist and swung his cane at Zoicite's head.

*Crack*

Taken off guard, the general went tumbling, but a black blur immediately slammed Kamen into the ground as the youma dive-bombed him. Unfortunately, Usagi had caught her breath again.

"HHIIIYYYAAHH!" The wave of sound blew them all back, and since her attack hadn't worked on Zoicite, "Moon Tiara Magic!" The hastily flung tiara flew at the recovering youma, and then something happened that knocked the wind out of Usagi's sails. The tiara approached the youma, passed within a hand's breadth of its face, and kept flying. _I missed? Crud, I actually forgot I could do that._ Usagi was speechless. Zoicite was not.

"Stay still and die," he screamed as he threw another hail of flower at her. Usagi snapped back to reality and spun out of the way, but they caught her left arm and shredded into her left hip, and a few had lodged in her stomach like blades.

The pain was exquisite, like getting caught in a hailstorm of needles. It was all she could do to keep from screaming, but she stayed standing, though she swayed a little. A whoosh told her that the youma had returned to the skies, and she felt a warm presence behind her as Zoicite's next words rang out. "Shiroth, to me!"

"Mercury, destroy the trophy! We've got the general!" Usagi yelled, and hissed as Kamen, holding her from behind, gently touched her wounds. They tingled

"Here," he said quietly, and pressed several conjured, lavender flowers into her hand. "I have some healing powers, and these will stop the bleeding and numb the pain somewhat, and they degrade safely." Usagi took a guess at what he meant and held them against the gauged out areas.

"Thanks." It seemed as though the world had gone into slow motion, almost.

"Aqua Bubble Burst!" came a call at Usagi's seven o'clock, but she didn't turn to look. Instead she just held out her hand as her tiara finally returned to her. Then there was a short, sharp buzz and a flash of light, and she heard her friends yelp in pain, but she still didn't turn. Zoicite, however, zeroed in on the sound and began running toward it, and thus toward Usagi, who settled into a stance.

"You get the bat, I'm handling him," she told Kamen brusquely, as the youma began clearing away another patch of fog. The pain seemed to have sharpened the world for her, and she could practically hear her body humming with power. Kamen moved a little ways away from her, and she saw a few roses fly at the youma as Zoicite finally came into range.

_When I'm old and crotchety, I'm still going to look back on this moment and laugh myself sick at his face,_ she thought maliciously as she saw Zoicite suddenly see _her_ appear out of the mist. She was waiting for him.

Out of the corner of her eye, Usagi saw the white, furry youma rush past her, toward where it thought its master was, but she paid it no attention. She stepped forward and drilled a gloved fist into Zoicite's face, and felt bone break.

In that moment she felt that she could do anything, that the world was hers for the taking, if she wanted it.

In that moment, there was not a force on Earth that could stop her.

In that moment, Usagi felt more powerful than she had ever been before, and as Zoicite let out an incomprehensible yell and skidded across the dirt, she held out one arm, pointed, and as her very blood and bones sung with magic, she spoke.

"_Mirror Light Escalation."_

The incantation was not shouted, not yelled, not even called loudly. It was spoken quietly, in the voice she would use when confiding a secret in Naru when the two were alone in her room, and that made it all the more terrible. It happened in an instant, but to Usagi, and perhaps to Zoicite, if he could see it, that instant was slowed down to an eternity, and time flowed like molasses.

Motes of pink light gathered at her fingertips, before flaring into plasma as bright as a second sun. It surged toward Zoicite like a flooding river. He could clearly see the light—it was bright enough to illuminate him through the mist—and was summoning crystal to act as a shield. Usagi could also see the white youma running toward where it had heard Zoicite land, possibly to try to rescue him—_like Tuxedo Kamen does me_—or possibly because it was too stupid to realize the danger. _Either way, the this ends the same. It's finished._

The spell exploded like a star.

"Oh no," Zoicite whispered. The blast slammed into him _and_ the youma and carved a trench all the way to, into, and through the far wall of the arena.

"So. Who's next?" Usagi asked as she turned away from the smoking crater, and back to the other fights. Kamen was watching the bat youma for an opening, and it had flown far out of range to avoid him. This meant, however, that it couldn't attack, so she turned back to the trophy.

"Moon Tiara Magic." Again, her incantation was spoken, not shouted, but the disc hummed toward the golden cup with unusual power. It slammed into the metal, cut through it, and kept going. Nothing happened. "Huh?"

"Uranus Space Shock!" called an unfamiliar voice to her left, and Usagi turned to see a senshi dressed in a yellow skirt swat the bat youma out of the sky with an orange ball of force. She leaped up to meet it halfway as it fell, and kicked it, producing a wince-worthy CRACK. Usagi absentmindedly caught her tiara on the return trip as Kamen hobbled forward and snapped its wing with his cane. One of his legs had taken a beating, it seemed, and he was leaning on his cane like a, well, cane.

"Moon Tiara Magic." The spell dusted the dying monster with ease and Usagi turned toward Ami and Naru, who had frozen the red gremlin and kept refreezing it as Naru whacked it over the head with _Is that a crowbar? I guess that was the nice toy she mentioned. Well, if it works. Still, I have to wonder where she kept it. Hammerspace?_ "Moon Tiara Magic." She smirked and remembered an appropriate line Naru had once commented on.

"And another one bites the dust," Usagi quipped, raising her voice enough to be heard. There was a moment of silence as everyone realized the battles were finally over.

"I can't believe you stole my line," the disguised Naru said, faking disgust.

"Mercury. Why didn't everything go boom when I broke the trophy?" Usagi gestured to the cut apart metal. Ami glanced it over and touched her tiara/visor.

"Hmm. Ah! The trophy is just a regular metal trophy. The disguised youma is the rock beneath it, but we're in no danger. This youma can only gather energy; it has no attack or defense, and almost no mind at all. In fact, a normal human could destroy it. All it takes—look out!"

Usagi heard a whistle of air behind her and turned to see a crystal spear flying at her head. Kamen was too injured to stop it and no one else could react in time as the missile of doom flew on a direct course for Usagi's odangoed head.

Ami's gut twisted in horror.

Naru almost screamed.

Kamen was about to jerk forward when his leg failed him.

Uranus was too far away, but she tried to have, and her face blanched.

Usagi reached up with one hand and grabbed the spear, stopping it cold a mere three inches from her left eye.

"I'm going to kill you!" bellowed a badly burned, bloody, and beaten Zoicite from the trench her new attack had carved. It looked as though he had lost his left hand, and possibly his right eye, as well as much of his hair. He staggered and teleported away.

"That was _awesome_," said an awed Naru. The world got back on track. "So can I? Destroy the youma, I mean. It might be the only time I can, and I want to get back at it for making me pass out."

"You fainted?" Usagi asked, surprised into dropping the spear, which broke apart when it hit the ground.

"Yeah. My energy was being drained too, but being around you guys slowed it down, I guess. The last thing I saw was that awesome boot-to-the-head on Zoicite before Luna woke me up a few minutes later."

"Oops! Sorry about that, I wish I'd noticed. Go ahead and…crud. He's gone again." Tuxedo Kamen had indeed vanished. How he did it with a beat-up leg merely added another mystery to his resumé. "Never mind. Go ahead and dust it." Naru walked up to the stone and hefted her crowbar.

"Hiyah! Hiyah! HIYAH!" The stone, really the youma, cracked and squelched sickeningly before it burst into dust and the wave of energy flowed out to the people around them. The dome vanished.

"I already called the police, so maybe we should go somewhere else," Naru said.

They regrouped a few minutes later on top of a grocery store—Usagi had carried Naru—and made themselves comfortable.

"First thing's first," said Usagi, and turned to the apparent Sailor Uranus. The new senshi, already masked, squirmed as a frowning Usagi studied her for several moments before finally nodding decisively.

"I'm Sailor Moon. Who are you? I don't recognize you," she said to the unfamiliar woman, happy that they had found a senshi, but surprised—and a little disappointed—that it wasn't Haruka.  
++++++++++++++++++

EXTRA: An odd conversation.

Nephrite sat on the frozen plain, staring into the sky. His magic protected him from the cold, but it didn't stop his scrying from being boring and time-consuming. A hand touched his shoulder.

"I'm bored." He turned and smiled at the turn-coat from the Silver Millennium.

"So of course you come to bother me."

"Well, I would bother Kunzite, since you're scrying, but he's off among the little people. No one else around here is any fun."

"Not Jadeite or Zoicite?"

"They are both too wrapped up in their petty little rivalry. Zoicite's apparently down to his last few chances, though." Nephrite frowned.

"Would you mind keeping an eye on him?" he asked. "They may have forgotten that we were friends, but I haven't."

"We _have_ always had the best memories of the bunch."

"We have," Nephrite agreed. "Now can't you go train the youma in anti-senshi strategies?"

"The empowered youma won't take my orders, the regular ones are too stupid to learn, and our two Shadow warriors are worried I'll break them." Nephrite raised an eyebrow.

"Now why ever would that be?"

"Beryl yelled at me after I broke a few of the stupid youma, that's all." Nephrite chuckled.

"Kunzite really should hurry back. He's the only one who can match you in a fight, these days."

"Yup. Always has been. So what are you doing?"

"Scrying for the location of the Ginzuisho. Since you're here, you can take my report to the Queen."

"You just want to go back to being alone."

"I like being alone sometimes, and I enjoy company other times," Nephrite agreed.

"Alright. What have you found?"

"The Ginzuisho is no longer whole: it was split into several smaller parts. I do not yet know where these are, how many, or how to recombine them, but I am working on it."

"Great. I'll go deliver the news."

"Also, I have a solution to your boredom. Teach Shadow Warriors Tethys and Castorand anti-senshi tactics by pitting them against each other, instead of fighting them yourself. No breakage necessary."

"Sounds good. Bye." And Naphrite was once again alone on the icy plain.  
+++++++++++++++

Author's note: I'll take the time to address several questions this chapter has no doubt raised.

1. Uranus and CLIFFY! How could Haruka not be Sailor Uranus? Well, you'll see what happened next chapter.

2. Mirror Light Escalation. I won't tell you why it works, yet, but I will explain the name. The moon doesn't glow, it just reflects the sun's light like a mirror. Mirror Light refers both to the moon and to sending light (plasma) toward the target. Escalation will tie in with Usagi's powers.

3. Usagi's powers. Specifically, Sailor Moon's powers. Each of the planets has a unique power: Mercury has power over cold water; Uranus has power over the sky; Neptune has power over the seas/deep water (which is different from Mercury'spower); etc. What are Sailor Moon's powers? She introduces herself as the soldier of love and justice, but that doesn't explain a lot, now does it? I've hinted at the moon's specialty a little in this chapter, and more in the next. Feel free to guess.

4. Zoicite's flower petals, and Kamen conjuring flowers other than roses. I'm making the executive decision that the Earth's specialty is in plant magic, and especially with flowers. To see what I mean, go reread the above number 3. Kamen and the Generals can summon flowers for various purposes because they are members of Gaian (Earth) nobility. So for instance, Sailor Gaia-should she ever be created in my universe-would be the senshi of flowers.

5. The Extra. It is canonical in my story, but I couldn't find a good way to work it into the chapter, so I just stuck it on the end. The figure in the middle from when Beryl first assembled the Generals in chapter one, and who (mistakenly) deduced that Sailor Moon is Sailor Venus in disguise, is the same being who was talking to Nephrite.

6. The mysterious traitor. I am being annoyingly vague about their name/gender/species/past on purpose because I want the reveal to be shocking. It could be a senshi, it could be another mau, it could be a member of the court (since there were lesser nobility alongside the various royal families), it could be a family member of one of the senshi, it could be a non-Lunarian royal who wanted power, or it could even be a senshi candidate who defected because she didn't get the mantle. I've left in some foreshadowing evidence in support of any of these, and I welcome wild guessing, but the reveal won't happen until around chapter 20, so don't get ahead of yourselves.

7. Omakes. I have no ideas for omakes of my own, really, but I welcome suggestions.

See you all in another week, my lovely readers and reviewers.


	7. Just Breathe, the Bus is Here

Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon.

I've gotten some comments about capitals and italics, and there's a method to my madness.

"talking"  
"LOUD"  
"_stressed"  
__thought_

Also, someone pointed out that I described Uranus as wearing a yellow fuku. It was an accident, but I haven't decided to retcon it yet. It just isn't an important detail aside from in your minds, or making fan art. And yes, I know the cliffy was stupid, but I like being a little mean. At least I update regularly.  
Enjoy.  
+++++++++++++++++++++

"Who are you? I don't recognize your face." Everyone on the roof, except Uranus herself, face-faulted at Usagi's question. She chuckled at seeing Luna among their number. A face-faulting mau is hilarious, as anyone who's seen one will attest to.

"_What_!" came the following outcry when they picked themselves off the floor (or rather, off the roof, except that saying that implies gravity is skipping work).

"My name is Tennou Haruka," the blonde senshi replied, "an' as kick-ass as this is I'd really like to know what the _hell_ is going on!" Her voice rose at the end as she finally vented her steam, but Usagi had frozen at the revelation of Uranus's identity.

"Really? I don't recognize you at all! Oh, wait, you've already got the mask on. I guess the disguise really works after all." She paused as more gears turned in her head before literally jumping for joy.

"Yes! Take _that_, laws of probabilli-whatsit! I was right! Haruka was a senshi! Woohoo!" She was quickly brought down from cloud nine when Naru lost patience and dragged her back to Earth via one long streamer of hair.

"Yes, it's Haruka, you were right, tralala-lala. Now don't you think we should explain things to her?"

"Yeah. For one, do you guys know me or something?" Haruka—though Usagi still couldn't see the resemblance—looked as though she had the beginning of a migraine. "Two, what on _earth_ happened back there? Three, what's a senshi? Four, how the _hell_ do I get out of this skirt!?" she snapped.

"Okay, everyone de-transform," Usagi ordered. "You just press the bow on your chest," she added for the sake of a confused Uranus. Sailor Uranus then melted away, revealing that she really was Haruka. "Wow, I really couldn't recognize you."

"Koneko! Naru! Ami! You guys are the Sailor Senshi!" Suffice it to say that Haruka was completely gob-smacked, stunned, shocked, and beginning to doubt her sanity. This last one was ironically common among senshi initiates, and arguably even a sign of good mental health. "Either this is one messed up dream or…or…oh man. I'm not dreaming, am I?"

"I asked the same question when this happened to me," Ami said, moving to console the older girl. Naru and Usagi followed, crowding around supportively. Haruka took a few minutes to collect herself, before returning to semi-normal.

"Alright," she said and looked at Luna. "You gave me the magic pen, kitty cat, an' I know you can talk, so give me the run-down." Luna curled into a comfortable pose.

"Very well. It begins with a great empire that fell fourteen-thousand years ago, known as the Silver Millennium…"  
+++++++++++++++++

"Zoicite, show yourself." Beryl's words were not barked commands, but a hiss of her venomous displeasure. The court of youma surrounding the edges of the room rustled in fear and schaden-freudian glee. This susurrus only increased in volume when Zoicite entered. He did not teleport, as was the usual occurrence. Instead the beaten general (in both senses of the word) walked on unsteady legs through the hall's main entrance, supporting himself with a crystal staff as a crutch. He prostrated himself before the throne.

"My Queen, I live to serve thy will," he gurgled mechanically.

"And soon, you may die by will! _What happened_?"

"Several unforeseen occurrences, though I did garner some—"

"Useful information, yes. I know. You use that excuse every time you stand before me. It's funny how it never seems to do you much use. Nor anyone else, for that matter."

"As you say, your majesty," he replied nervously. "The plan began without any problems—" he broke off screaming as Beryl's spell voiced the sorceress's displeasure.

"You say that every time, too. You also say that you have figured out the problem. And of course, you tell me each time you report that you have failed. Why don't you tell me something new?" She punctuated each sentence with a new burst of power. Zoicite quivered for several moments before speaking.

"Your Majesty…" He began screaming once more.

"I don't enjoy being a bad boss, Zoicite. Well, no, I do, but I prefer to torture weak minions, since the strong should be in good health to serve. And yet here we are again, and again, and again." Finally she stopped, looking rather bored, and let Zoicite speak.

"Another senshi has appeared." He flinched as he heard the crackle of her dark energy, but she merely held the spell in her palm for the time being. "I can now confirm with complete certainty that there is both a bastard in a suit and an unknown, and possibly normal human helping them. Distinguishing characteristics include bright pink hair. Also, the senshi got past the shield by being present before it went up, so they must have already known where I was."

"You only spent _weeks_ preparing, Zoicite. Of course they would see the preparations. Anything else, or have you exhausted your vast intellect? No wait, you were the pretty face, and relied on your frigid bed-pet to do the thinking for you before you joined me." Zoicite growled.

"Just one more thing. The moon brat is going to die for wrecking my face. Die slowly, painfully, and gruesomely." Beryl's spell dispersed and she actually laughed.

"If you couldn't manage to kill the disguised Sailor Venus by now, then I doubt you will be able to with reinforcements, which I am not at all willing to give you. You have given me an idea, though. Jadeite!" A moment later the blonde general teleported in, already kneeling.

"Speak and I shall obey, my glorious queen," he intoned.

"Flattery will get you nowhere," Beryl purred, "but another's incompetence is your good fortune. As you have stabilized our wards while Zoicite has been beaten like a drum, you get your chance to prove yourself."

"In what way your majesty? I vow that I shall succeed where this vain fool has failed. Thy will is my pleasure."

"While Zoicite spends several days healing, and re-growing his hand, you will have a chance to gather energy for our great leader, Metaria," Beryl replied. "If you fail, then I shall simply have Zoicite continue doing his job until he runs out of youma or dies, as one failure is as good as another. But if you succeed, then you shall take over as our energy gathering officer, and Zoicite will be…reassigned."

"Zoicite was beaten like a redheaded step-child, but I shall not be so easy a foe," Jadeite boasted. Beryl raised an eyebrow at the phrase.

"Actually, my step-mother never raised a hand against me, Jadeite." The general choked as he realized the implications behind the saying. "My father, now, is a different story, but I got into his grimoires, so I suppose it all evens out," Beryl reminisced whimsically. His screams had been music to her ears when she had offered him as the first sacrifice to Metaria. "Now go begin your preparations to gather the energy our Great Ruler so desperately needs, Jadeite." The blond nodded and rose.

The more effeminate general quietly whimpered in fearful anticipation, but Beryl still heard. "No worries, Zoicite. Even if Jadeite succeeds and proves your utter incompetence I won't kill you…immediately."

_How reassuring,_ Zoicite thought. His hopes rose as she continued, though.

"You will be tasked solely with killing the Sailor sluts, using your skill with disguise to assassinate them. Succeed at that, and I _may_ forgive you yet. After all, you served me loyally and competently when we shattered the White Witch's throne. You know that I forget _favors_ as quickly as I do _grudges_. But fail, and…well, I suggest that you succeed or die trying. Both of you, now, begone!"  
++++++++++++++++++

"Freaky," Haruka finally said, once Luna had finished retelling the tale of the Fall of the Silver Millennium.

"I know," Naru agreed. "The idea that something so powerful could be so completely erased…it almost makes my hair stand on end."

"What I really can't believe," said Haruka, "is that all those people died. It makes the Holocaust, the Black Plague, the Rape of Nanjing, and Rwanda combined look like a car accident in comparison."

"Luna," Ami said, realizing she had never asked a certain question, "How large a population did the Silver Millennium have?" The mau closed her eyes.

"I don't remember if it was the one before the Fall, but I think there was a census sometime during my life that left the count at a little more than fifty billion."

"Fifty billion," Naru whispered, horrified at having the scope of the tragedy—if that word was strong enough—spelled out so clearly. It was a reaction mirrored by the others. The idea of the number echoed around the air as they all realized how horrific the Fall truly was. After a moment, however, Ami frowned.

"I almost don't want to say this," and she really didn't, "but I expected it would be bigger." That got her a number of skeptical or horrified looks, so she elaborated. "Earth currently has around eight billion people. By the time our society has advanced enough to be comparable to what it was during the Silver Millennium, our population will probably be closer to eleven or twelve billion."

"Is that a long time or a little?" Usagi asked.

"In between," Ami hedged, before continuing. "Taking into account that the outer planets are extraordinarily larger than the inner ones, and that several of them have moons the size of Earth that were or could have been inhabited, I would have expected the population to be nearer one or two-hundred billion. As it is, there must have been an average of less than five billion people on each celestial body that was habitable. Half of what there should have been, if not less. Were there low birth rates, or another cause?" she asked Luna.

"I honestly can't recall," the mau replied. "It could be that I'm misremembering, but the number feels right." She sighed despondently. "I really do wish I recalled things better. There are so many stories I remember knowing that I wish I could share." Usagi scooped her up.

"There, there," she said gently. "We'll get our memories back eventually, just you wait and see. Everything will be fine." Things stayed quiet for another few moments before Haruka got restless.

"I don' want to seem callous, but I've still got some questions," she hazarded. Luna nodded and motioned with her tail for Haruka to continue. "Okay. How do I make the skirt longer? Or better yet, change it into a good pair of slacks like Tux-boy had?"

"You can't."

"We don't know how, or even if we can," added Usagi. "It's just another thing to ask the princess when we see her."

"Crap. Why are they so revealing?"

"Well," Luna answered, "I believe it was part fashion, part magic, and part public relations. The senshi magic meant that you could walk around naked and still be protected, so when the senshi started to get a reputation as shock troops instead of champions of the realm, one of the rulers—this would have been long, _long_ before Queen Serenity's reign—altered the uniform to be more fashionable and family-friendly." Cynical looks were directed both at her, and at the offending uniforms.

"This is family-friendly?"

"This is _fashionable?"_

"Fashions change. At the time, there was probably no taboo about displaying your legs, but showing skin between the shoulders and hips would be considered revealing. Then I simply don't think anyone ever bothered to change the uniform afterward."

"But there is a way to change it?" Haruka clarified.

"Yes, I assume, but it almost certainly requires the Ginzuisho, and thus the princess."

"Damn. That's another reason to find her fast, then. Guess there's no help for it," Haruka sighed.

"Hey, at least no one knows it's you," Naru consoled. "Usagi didn't have her disguise spell on when she started this, and I figured out it was her. That's how I got involved with helping, even though I'm not a senshi."

"Isn't that a little dangerous?"

"If I help, I might die, sure. But…If I _don't_ help and the Dark Kingdom wins, everyone on Earth is going to die, including me. At least by helping I have some say in saving my own life."

"And you're not going to die," Usagi said fiercely, wrapping the redhead in a hug. "I won't _let_ them hurt you." Haruka, Ami, and even Naru shivered as Usagi's voice once again displayed a normally absent edge. Luna was once again reminded that Usagi's previous life, whoever she was, hadn't been made the leader of the senshi because of her pretty face.

"Intense," Haruka murmured.

"Ah! Owie," Usagi complained, suddenly reverting back to normal.

"Sorry. Usagi, are you hurt?"

"Oh my!" Ami yelled as she noticed her blonde leader's wounds for the first time, and rushed over. "Why didn't you mention that you were injured? Luna, do you have my bandages and disinfectant?"

"Wait, shouldn't we take her to a hospital?" Haruka asked, seeing the wounds looked a little severe. How she had missed them before, she didn't know.

"The senshi don't regenerate like youma, but they get this really fast healing," Naru explained as Ami worked quickly. "If we just wrap it up so it stops bleeding and Usagi stays in the sun to soak up its light to fuel the magic, then it'll probably be gone in three or four days."

"I guess there are some perks to the job, after all. Just not the uniform."

"Yeah, but I think getting hurt was a good thing this time," Usagi said. "I pulled off this awesome new spell after I got hit."

"Was that what carved out that trench?" Ami asked while tying off the gauze she had wrapped around Usagi's stomach. Luna's sub-space pocket was very useful.

"I saw this pink flash, but didn't see anything else," Naru added.

"Yup, that was it. Since we have to have a meeting tonight to see what our rookie can do," this earned a pout from Haruka, "I'll just show you guys then."

"I'm not sure I can sneak out," Naru said.

"Then you'll sleep over at my place and I'll smuggle you along. It's not like I can't carry you and jump around. And don't pull the injury card on me, I was hurt when I brought you up here and it still went fine. I'm not leaving you behind."

"Thanks," Naru quietly, but with a bright smile. There was an unspoken part to the conversation as well, but neither would mention it aloud.

"Alright, I hereby declare this senshi meeting to be over," Usagi announced pompously. "Meet in the park at ten tonight?" Everyone agreed, and separated.  
++++++++++++++++

"Usagi! Alre you alright?" her mother fretted when she saw her daughter covered in bandages.

"Mom!" Usagi flinched away from the touch. "I'm fine! Honestly! It looks a lot worse than it is."

"What happened?" Ikuko's look brooked no argument. Usagi flailed around for an answer.

"Um, well, it was two things actually. You see, we were walking and my bag got caught on this bush, and I got scratched by the thorns when I got it loose. So we went to Naru's house and Ami patched me up, 'cause her mom's a doctor, you know? But then I broke a glass in the kitchens, so I had to get patched up again, but I'm fine!"

"I'm not sure. I think we should take you to the doctor."

_Crud! There's no way I could explain this. Think, think, bargain!_

"Mom, really it's okay. Ami just went a little wild with wrappings. How about…if I haven't healed up by the day after tomorrow then we can go to the hospital, alright?" Ikuko looked at her daughter sternly and Usagi fought the impulse to look away. Naru and Ami had both told her that that was a dead giveaway of lying.

"Alright, Usagi. But if you start bleeding through the bandages you are going to the hospital, like it or not," Ikuko said, relenting. Her daughter babbled an agreement and raced up to her room. Then she raced back down again.

"Um, mom, Naru and me had plans for her to come over and work on a project, and sleep over. Is that okay?"

"If her mother is fine with it, I am too," Ikuko said. She frowned as her daughter hurried out of sight again, since it looked like she was limping _What is she hiding?_ Ikuko walked over to the phone and dialed Naru's number.

"Hello," the recorded message said, "you have reached the Osaka residence. Please leave your message at the beep."

*BEEP*

"Hello, Naru? This is Ikuko. Usagi came home covered in bandages and said she got caught in some rose bushes. Is that what really happened? Call back, please. Oh, and you're welcome to sleep over if your mother says okay." She hung up. _She can''t get in touch with Usagi if I get the phone first, so they can't check stories. If she leaves out the broken glass I'll _know_ something is happening and take steps._

She couldn't have known that Usagi was calling Naru and Ami on her communicator to relay the cover story right then, but it was the closest anyone had yet come to discovering the senshi's identities, though no one would know it.  
+++++++++++++++++

"Alright, rookie, show me what you can do," a transformed Usagi goaded, taking a stance opposite Haruka.

"I'm gonna smack you around for calling me that, Koneko," Haruka replied with a grin. Ami, who was watching with her visor active, smiled. Naru, who was refereeing, took a moment to chuckle. Luna said nothing.

"Begin!" the redhead called. Usagi slid forward and lobbed a punch at Haruka's guard. It was easily countered, and the taller blonde responded with kick that Usagi ducked under. She aimed to sweep Haruka's pivot leg out from under her, but the newest senshi took advantage of her new skills a jumped straight up on one leg.

Unfortunately, she was still inexperienced, and ended up five feet in the air, slowly somersaulting backwards, about to land on her tailbone. Usagi, for some unknown reason, or perhaps because she was just feeling fancy, cartwheeled toward where Haruka would land and aimed an axe kick at her chest. Haruka could only cross her arms and take the hit, smashing her into the ground, but she had grabbed Usagi's ankle.

"I've told you not to overextend, Koneko," Haruka chided, before twisting and slamming Usagi into the dirt. She used the momentum to rise to her feet and moved to pin the smaller blonde, only to get a nasty surprise.

"Moon Tiara Magic!" Haruka reflexively took a half step back, confused that she didn't see the glowing ring anywhere. Had Usagi faked her out? Then suddenly the ground moved under her and she was pin-wheeling her arms as she fell, unable to move her feet.

"Match. Winner, Usagi," Naru declared.

"What was _that_?" Haruka asked, flat on the ground. She twisted to look and saw that her ankles had been bound together by a glowing band that looked like—"Your tiara? Is that wha' that is?" _But I didn't see her throw it. Was she even holding it? Was she even _wearing_ it when I flipped her? I don't remember seeing it, but it didn't click._

"Yup," Usagi cheerfully affirmed, and recalled the ring to her brow. "I can decide if I want it to cut something, or just bounce off, or I can make it tie stuff up. I only bother to use the cutting on the youma, though."

"So how did you throw it? I didn't see it before it got me."

"It was when she cartwheeled," Ami explained, replaying the scene on her visor. "She dropped the tiara on the ground when she was balanced on her hands."

"Oh," said Naru. "I thought she just did that to get momentum for the kick. I didn't know you could activate your tiara at a distance, Usagi."

"I just found out a few days ago, when Luna sent me off to practice alone, and I forgot to tell you since I haven't really had to use it. Sorry."

"It's a useful skill," Ami commented, preoccupied with something else. "Haruka, could you please de-transform?"

"Alright." She did. "Why?"

"I'm testing a theory. Retransform now, please."

"Uranus Power: Make Up!" This was the first time Usagi had seen Haruka's transformation. She was covered in the same veil of light and gusts of glowing wind whirled around her, forming the yellow and blue-themed fuku, and a white tiara. And one, Usagi noticed, was whirling around a bracelet on Haruka's left wrist. _Wait. Wasn't she wearing that bracelet before she henshined? Why didn't it disappear?_

"Were you looking at the bracelet, Ami?"

"Yes," the bluenette replied. "That was very observant of you, Usagi."

"What about it?" Haruka asked, confused.

"You had it on before you transformed and it didn't disappear. Drop the transformation again." Ami was fiddling with her computer and visor as Haruka complied. "This is interesting. Apparently healing isn't the only thing that necessarily stays with us outside of transformations. I can't quite tell what it is, though."

"I can," Luna said. "I don't know why I didn't recognize it before—I must be going blind in my old age. And if any of you repeat that I'll _get _you." She glared at the girls.

"Already forgotten it," Naru swore, and the others nodded.

"The bracelet is a sub-space generator." Luna's explanation got blank looks from everyone except Ami.

"Similar to what you use to store our artifacts?"

"Yes and no," Luna replied. "I use a spell generated by my own magic for that pocket. Most mages did in the Silver Millennium. The bracelet is enchanted to do the same thing, but it also acts as a key to that pocket, so anyone wearing it could get in. They were popular among non-magical people, but they were also rather expensive. It looks like the senshi mantle recreated one for you to use."

"So how do I use it? And what does it do?" Haruka asked, examining her wrist.

"A sub-space pocket," Ami explained, "Is a magically folded piece of space-time designed to warp around small amounts of matter, and tied to another piece of space-time."

"In small words, please?" Usagi groaned, holding her head.

"To use the example of a school, students can walk to school no matter where they live in the city. The school and everything inside can be accessed from any direction, including the air or underground. However, if we put a dome-shaped wall around the school, the only way to get in is through the front gate. Similarly, if you place something in your subspace pocket, you can access it only through the bracelet, while the rest of the world doesn't even know it exists."

"…I still don't get it," Haruka confessed.

"Oh! Wait! I think do!" Usagi chirped. "It's hammer-space! You can put stuff in there and take it out, and no one else knows it's there! Like pulling a tiger out of a hat."

"Wow," Naru said. "That actually made sense. Sort of. I think."

"Yeah," Haruka agreed. Hearing this slight against her teaching skills, Ami curled up into a ball of depression, grumbling about philistines. Usagi and Naru shared a look, and promptly declared a tickle-war on her. Finally, everyone was back to normal a few minutes later.

"So how does it work?" Haruka asked. Ami handed her a stick, which she stared blankly at.

"I figured out my glove and visor through trial and error," Ami explained. "Just try to put the stick in the pocket and you'll eventually figure it out." The tall blonde frowned, fiddled with the bracelet, and began twisting her wrist in odd ways.

"Gah!" she yelped, seeing her hand disappear for a moment. When it reappeared, the stick was gone.

"That looked _weird._"

"That _felt_ weird." She reappeared the stick.

"Luna," Ami asked, "Could the rest of us get these too? I've been having some problems carrying my brooch and wand everywhere, and I've had a day or two when I completely forgot them. This would be very useful, if it's made like the mask. We could also carry our own medical supplies, so we wouldn't need you if someone got hurt again."

"It's possible," Luna allowed hesitantly. "I'm not sure how many accessories the senshi mantle can make, but it may be worth a shot. And yes, it would be the same as the mask."

"I see," Ami said and de-transformed. Usagi copied her.

"Moon Power: Make-Up!"

"Mercury Power: Make-Up!"

Both transformations lit up the dark clearing in the park. Sure enough, Usagi and Ami both had bracelets on their wrists as they reappeared.

"Alright," Usagi cheered. The two of them spent several minutes de- and re-transforming to ensure that the bracelet stayed on in civilian form, and figuring out how to work them. Luna finally caught their attention.

"Girls! Need I remind you that we are here to practice fighting, interesting as this is," she put archly.

"Yeah, show me some awesome spells already," Naru added with a grin.

"Strut your stuff, rookie," Usagi told Haruka. The two blondes exchanged smug smirks.

"Uranus Space Shock!" The spell was a translucent ball of orange that flew from her outstretched arm and smashed into the lake. It created an impressive plume of water, and Ami hummed as her visor dissected it.

"I see," she said to herself. "In essence, the spell is nothing more than a ball of compressed air and magic. It doesn't use very much power, but it is very efficient, since Haruka doesn't need to create air the way I do water, so it packs an impressive punch. One more time, please." Haruka threw another burst into a tree, and this time they felt the small shockwave of air as it cratered the wood.

"Whoa," Naru said. "Now try the tiara." Haruka shot the redhead a questioning look.

"Senshi magic creates all of our adornments, so it would have made your tiara do something, or it wouldn't be there," Ami explained. "Usagi's is the base for her offensive spell, and my tiara activates my visor."

"Huh," said Haruka, fiddling with the circlet. It appeared to be made partly of gold, but mostly of smooth white stone. _Possibly marble,_ Ami theorized. "Well, I can't think of anything it could do, really. I'm stumped. Except… it doesn't. Come. Off!" she yelled, yanking at the stubborn thing.

"I'll try scanning it," Ami said. "In the meanwhile, Usagi was going to demonstrate her new offensive ability, correct?"

"You mean show off my wicked attack? Yeah!" Usagi bounced eagerly and moved a few meters from the others. "Okay, this was really really strong, so get ready! One. Two. Three! Mirror Light Escalation!"

…

…

…

"What's supposed to happen?" Naru asked after five seconds of nothing. Usagi drooped.

"I'm supposed to shoot this really big super powerful PINK blast of energy from my hand. I don't get it. Mirror Light Escalation! Mirror Light Escalation! Mirror. Light! ESCALATION!"

"Maybe the incantation is incorrect," Ami offered.

"No, I know this was it. I don't get it!"

"What happened the first time you used it that is different now?"

"Well…the first time I felt really odd. Powerful. It was like my blood had turned to lightning and it was singing in my veins, trying to be released. Like what we learned about in science back in fourth grade, about hurricanes and their ears."

"Eyes, Usagi," Naru corrected.

"Yeah, that! I was in the eye of the hurricane and I didn't need to blink so I could do pretty much anything. It was almost like I was dreaming, except better."

"And what prompted this sensation?" Ami asked clinically, fingers flying across her computer.

"You mean why? I guess it sort of happened after Miss General stabbed me with those crystals. I sort of thought that it was an adrena-whatsit rush."

"Some magical form of adrenalin is a possibility, I suppose, but I have another theory, too. Have you ever felt that before?"

"Um, sort of. I felt a little like it back at the wedding, when that youma cut up my stomach. It was like the world had slowed down, and I could feel my own heartbeat, and it was weird."

"Wait, you mean it only works if you get hurt," Haruka interjected.

"That is a fair assumption. Specifically, if she bleeds, I hypothesize. I believe those are the only two attacks where Usagi's blood has been drawn, while she has been bruised on multiple occasions, correct?"

"I believe so," Luna agreed. "So it's some form of defense mechanism, perhaps? I don't remember anything like that in the past, but I don't remember Sailor Moon, either, so anything is possible."

"Moon Tiara Magic."

"_What are you doing!?"_ everyone simultaneously shrieked as Usagi ran her tiara down her own arm, drawing a red line against the white glove. She whimpered, but didn't wail.

"We need to see if Ami's right, don't we? That's what scientists do, form a hypotenuse and test it. And I think she is…" Usagi drew in a deep breath and let it out, her entire frame shuddering.

"Mirror Light Escalation!" Usagi thrust out her uninjured arm and pink light gathered in her hand, bursting out in a missile of plasma. Everyone else only stared, not even taking cover from the splash of steaming lake water raining down on them.

"That is awesome," Naru finally said.

"More than you saw," Ami added quietly, shivering. "According to my visor, a direct hit might have seriously burned my hand, broken bones, or ruptured my internal organs. Even _with_ the senshi armor."

"That was actually a lot weaker than what I used on Zoicite," Usagi commented. "With him I vaporized a youma in the way, blew up his shield, and half-killed him."

She paused after she said this and cocked her head, thinking. Then she frowned, wrinkling her nose much like her namesake, and turned to her advisor.

"Luna, is it bad that rather than feeling sorry, I just wish I had all-killed him?"

"Well, considering that _monster_ participated in and _led_ the _genocide_ of tens of _billions_, and is trying for a repeat show, I'd say not at all. You shouldn't enjoy the actual _act_ of killing, in my opinion, but it is perfectly healthy to feel satisfaction at the hope that he will never harm anyone again."

"So it gets stronger the more hurt you are?" Haruka asked, latching onto what Usagi said. "That's sort of sick. Don't start carving yourself up, please."

"No worries," Usagi said absently. "Hey, it's stopped bleeding already. Cool. Super-healing rocks! So Ami, have you finished scanning rookie yet?" The mentioned blonde growled.

"Yes and no. My findings only indicate that there are no findings, which is rather impressive."

"Eh heh heh...dumb it down a bit more, please."

"I can't scan Haruka herself at all, though I could get the bracelet to a small extent. Her tiara keeps her from showing up in my visor, I assume, making her undetectable to magical observation—a useful ability."

"Alright," Usagi cheered. "So we have one super soldier, one genius, one invisible fighter, an undercover redhead, and a cat! We're unstoppable!" She spent the next few minutes begging Luna to stop scratching her face, and she was sorry she'd called her a cat. Pretty please get off?  
++++++++++++++++++

"Strawberry, please, Motoki," Usagi called as she slid onto a seat, Ami slipping in next to her with an order for her usual vanilla. Haruka and Mamoru weren't there yet, and might not be since there wasn't a lesson planned today.

"Here you go," said the blond cheerfully. "You two are being careful when you're out walking, right?"

"Always," Usagi agreed, and popped a cherry into her mouth.

"No, I'm serious," Motoki said, his tone darkening, "A public bus full of passengers disappeared into thin air yesterday. If you need to travel, get your parents to drive you. If this monster stuff is real, and a lot of people are saying it is, then it's only going to be a matter of time before someone gets seriously hurt." The girls chewed on this, and their shakes.

"I'm confident that Sailor Moon and the others can handle whatever is thrown their way." Usagi's voice was strong, but her eyes betrayed the unspoken, _I hope_.

"What was this about a bus disappearance?" Ami asked. "I think we would have heard about it in the news."

"It was in this morning's newspaper," Motoki agreed. "Do you know the Hikawa Shrine? It's sort of a landmark, pretty famous, a popular tourist spot?" Ami shook her head while Usagi frowned and nodded slightly.

"It's really famous for its good luck charms, especially for love, right?"

"Right. Well, yesterday a bus stopped by the stop there to pick up some passengers, went around the corner, and completely disappeared. More than two-dozen people are missing, and no one knows what to do about it. But there are actually rumors that this is the second time it happened in the past week, and that the first one was hushed up to prevent a panic." Now the two girls looked worried. That sounded a LOT like the Dark Kingdom, and they hadn't had a clue.

"I think I'm going to take your advice and go home," Usagi said, and slipped out of her seat, Ami following with a quiet agreement. "_Walk_ home, I mean."

"Hey, wait, your shakes are only half done!"

"I'm not hungry!" Usagi called back, which caused the half of the arcade that knew her—even if they only knew her in passing—to begin worrying about the oncoming apocalypse. Usagi and Ami turned the corner and darted part way into an empty alley. "Luna!" she hissed into the communicator. The mau's head appeared.

"Luna, this is bad. They're stealing buses and they've already got, like, thirty people! How come we didn't know about this?" Luna looked shocked.

"I had no idea. That doesn't sound like Zoicite at all. Maybe someone new is working on this one. I can't imagine how we're going to find it though, there must be a hundred buses in as many places."

"According to rumor, both the buses that disappeared were around a place called Hikawa Shrine."

"It's really famous for its love charms," Usagi added. "We should go check it out. I need a good grades charm, anyway."

"You just need to study," Ami chided. "But it does seem possible that they set up a base of operations there."

"Go, but be very careful. They may have a general on site to oversee the operation. One of you should go in senshi form, but disguised." Usagi looked a little guilty.

"Haruka's got the disguise pen right now."

"I have my computer," Ami added. "That should be good for some scanning."

"I'll try to contact Uranus. Go if it feels safe, but _run_ if anything happens."

"Right," they agreed, and moved towards the bus stop.  
+++++++++++++++

"Welcome to Hikawa Shrine," greeted a young woman in miko robes, as the two civilian senshi finished climbing the stairs. She was holding a broom and had a yellow ribbon tying her long black hair into a ponytail.

"Ugh. They should call it High Climbing Shrine."

"Don't mind my friend," Ami demurred. "We heard you sell charms?"

"Yes, they're over there," the miko said, pointing to a stand manned by a blond teenager. "Daito is selling them. Also, the head priest should be in the main chamber if you need spiritual advice." She paused and leaned in conspiratorially, whispering.

"He might come off as a bit of a letch, but really he's very wise. Just don't be surprised if he makes a comment about your looks before he asks if you'd like to volunteer at the temple. He does it to all the girls, but he never does anything else."

"Thanks for the heads up," Usagi said cheerfully. "What's your name, if you don't mind?"

"Hokuto Inabi," she responded with a smile.

"Tsukino Usagi." "Mizuno Ami."

"Nice to meet you both," Inabi said politely, and went back to sweeping as they moved toward the stand.

"Hello, girls," said the blond young man selling charms. "Can I interest you in a charm? Protective charms, good luck charms," he shot them a smile that had them both blushing, "love charms?" _Take that Nephrite, you're not the only one who's still good with girls. I can charm like a master, no matter how out of practice I may be._

"I, uh, need a charm for getting good guys. I mean grades!" Usagi buried her red face in her hands.

"A charm f-for pro-t-tection?" Ami requested, and took a calming breath, remembering why they were here. "There's been stories of some unusual disappearances lately, and we thought it couldn't hurt to pray, certainly."

"You mean the bus disappearances?" he questioned, grabbing the charms they had asked for. "I wouldn't take those too seriously. Scores of people ride the buses by here everyday and are completely fine."

"Not take it seriously!" Usagi yelped. "There are youma popping up everywhere and people are disappearing and getting their energy drained. How can you not take that seriously?"

"Hey! I just want to make one thing clear," snapped the suddenly unfriendly voice of Inabi from behind them. The girls whirled around to find her glaring at them.

"I don't care who says what, or why, but Hino-sensei has nothing to do with the disappearances! He is a great, wise man who has been a pillar of the community for decades, and anyone who says otherwise—"

"Inabi!" interrupted a voice. The girls turned around again to see a shriveled, bald man in priest's robes come out of the temple. "I am truly glad that you see me in such a good light, but please don't go scaring our visitors. They said nothing bad against me, and nothing that wasn't true, either, and the fact that they are here shows that they must have some faith in us, still." The miko blushed.

"I'm sorry," she said, bowing to the girls. "I guess that was uncalled for. It's just that people have been saying a lot of nasty things about Hino-sensei because they're idiots—"

"Inabi," he rebuked gently.

"Okay, because they're frightened by things they don't really understand. But anyone with half a brain could tell that you have nothing to do with it, Hino-sensei, so the police have no business to be here asking questions."

"The police force's job is to keep people safe, and it is not a good sign that I get psychic signals around when the buses have been disappearing. If there is the possibility in their eyes that I am involved in the abductions, any possibility at all, then it is their duty to investigate in order to protect people. I do not blame them."

"You're also supposed to be one of the people they're protecting!"

"Um, not to butt in," Usagi said cautiously, "but could I hear a little more about this? Inabi said that you were looking for volunteers and I'd sort of like to know a bit more before I say yes to anything."

"Certainly, pretty girls are always welcome here at the shrine," the old man told them with a laugh. "Would you like some tea, too?"

"That would be really great, thanks!" chirped Usagi, with Ami pausing a moment to pay for the charms before following her into the temple. They stopped in a room with a large fire burning in the middle of it, and politely sat on the pillows he indicated while he left to fetch the tea. The fire made the room a bit hot, but not uncomfortable.

"Do you really think he could be involved with the Dark Kingdom?" Usagi asked.

"If he is, then we shouldn't talk about it where he could hear," Ami murmured.

"Oh, right! Sorry," Usagi whispered back. The old priest entered the room carrying a tray, and they politely waited whiled he poured out three cups of tea and took a sip.

"Ah, it is always a good time for a good cup of tea with lovely ladies, eh?" he said with a chuckle. "Now, were there any questions in particular I could answer?"

"What do you know about the disappearances around here?" Usagi blurted out, and Ami visibly flinched.

"Please excuse my friend's rudeness, Hino-sensei, could you tell us what volunteering at the shrine would entail, and what hours we would be working?"

"Yes, but your friend's question is perfectly valid, too," he said mildly. "There is a bus stop at the corner of the street, and a few days ago missing person reports went out when about eighteen people went missing. Within a day, the police had figured out that they had all passed through this area at about the same time, and no one had seen them after that."

"How did you get involved?"

"They didn't suspect me, as several of the people had not visited the shrine, just the bus stop on the corner. Then it happened again, yesterday, which is when the papers first got a hold of it. All I know is that there was an evil presence both days, and on the second day I rushed down and was one of several people who saw the bus turn the corner and vanish."

"It just disappeared, like into thin air?"

"My eyes are not as good as they were, but it appeared that way. Moreover, spiritual senses have long been strong in my family, and I get…_feelings_ around the time of the disappearances, so I am certain it is of a supernatural nature."

"Do you think it has anything to do with Sailor Moon?" Ami asked carefully.

"Yeah! Those monsters she's fighting get up to all kinds of tricks!"

"It is quite likely," he said with a sigh. "I worried when I heard of happenings in England, but with these things appearing here now, I am glad…" he trailed off.

"You're glad they're here?" Usagi yelped, his words setting off alarms.

"No! Not at all. Never. But my granddaughter, Rei, lives in England with her father. She said she got caught up in one of those fights between the demons and that Sailor M girl. When I heard that, I wanted her to come here, where it was safer, but her father refused. Now I am glad she is not here, as she would be in even more danger."

"Your granddaughter met Sailor M! That's so cool!" Usagi enthused. "Did she say what she is like? She's like, my favorite heroine ever!"

"Even after Sailor Moon?" Ami teased.

"Yes, those young girls are true heroines in this day and age. I can only imagine the burden on their shoulders, and I hope they are not carrying it alone. I wish I could help."

"Could you help?" Ami asked. "If you had the chance, I mean."

"I do not know. But my charms should be of use against the evil spirits they face, so I could provide those if nothing else. I would, at least, like to try and aid the heroines who saved my granddaughter, and so many other innocent lives."

"I imagine so," Ami said. "If you'll pardon my changing the subject, could you tell us more about volunteering at the shrine? I want to know if I can fit it into my schedule."

"Certainly," he said with a smile.  
+++++++++++++++

"I don't think he's evil," Usagi said to Luna in her room that night, the other members of the team present by communicator. "He's been there a long time, and everyone thinks really well of him, and he seemed really nice."

"I don't know," Haruka said slowly.

"You weren't even there!"

"I know. But you said you've seen youma imitate people before, right? Could he a youma in disguise?"

"I had my Mercury computer in my backpack, scanning. It found mild traces of dark energy, of the kind that would be caused by prolonged osmosis. That does seem very suspicious, but I also think it would have picked up more than it did around Hino-sensei if he was a youma."

"Prologue what?"

"Prolonged osmosis. A powerful thing has been there for a long time so it rubs off a little even if it isn't trying to, much like the way we shed hair follicles. The shrine's wards kept it to a minimum, however."

"You guys do realize," cut in Naru, "that the old priest isn't the only possibility. Either of the shrine workers could be the youma. What do you know about them?"

"Inabi grew up in the area with her mother. Her dad walked out on them when she was really little, and Hino-sensei was like a surrogate father, except he's too old, so he was like a grandfather. She think she's sort of like a surrogate granddaughter for him since his real granddaughter lives in England, though they visit each other several times a year. She's met Rei and likes her, but doesn't know her particularly well. She goes to her neighborhood's public school, and she has a boyfriend she started dating a few months ago named Toshiro, which she shortens to Shiro, and she isn't certain how serious she wants to let the relationship become because he's starting to nudge her a bit out of her comfort zone with making out and stuff." Usagi finished rattling facts off and gulped in a deep breath as the others stared at her. She blinked. "What?"

"Usagi," Ami said slowly, "You couldn't have talked to her for more than ten or fifteen minutes when she was showing you around the shrine and going over the various volunteer duties. How on Earth did you manage to get her to tell you that much?"

"I really like talking to people, and she seemed like a really cool person," Usagi said with a shrug. It wasn't like it was particularly impressive. Naru just chuckled.

"Yeah, Usagi is really good at getting people to open up. I mean, just look at how quickly she grabbed you guys' trust," she pointed out to Ami and Haruka. "What do you know about the guy?"

"Nothing, really. But I bet Ami knows more. She was talking with him _a lot._" Usagi grinned wickedly at her friend's mortification.

"It was purely from an intellectual point of view! He's a college student double majoring in engineering and religion and I wanted to get his unique perspective on things!" She flushed under the barrage of skeptical looks and grins. "Really! I'm more attracted to _Zoicite _than I am to Jiro!" The shocked silence was thick, as Ami realized how deeply she'd dug herself in.

"I'm not sure what the most disturbing part of this conversation is." Naru shook her head slightly. "For the sake of our friend's sanity, and our own, let us never speak of this again."

"Agreed," everyone unanimously replied.  
++++++++++++++++++

*RIIIIINNNGG* *RIIIINNN—*

"Usagi, phone for you!" Ikuko called up to her daughter. "It's Ami."

"One sec!" yelled Usagi, turning away from her homework to grab the phone. "Hey, what is it? Didn't we cover everything this afternoon, because I have some math I could really use your help on."

"Usagi, turn on channel 7 news. Now." The flatness of Ami's voice told her just how serious this was. She raced downstairs, grabbed the remote, and turned on the television.

"Usagi, shouldn't you be working on—"

"Shhh!" Ikuko was so surprised at her daughter's vehemence, and that she was watching the news and not some anime, and she shushed instead of starting a lecture.

"—as a father and grandfather myself, I completely understand and sympathize with the fears of everyone who is missing family members. It makes perfect sense that I come under suspicion, as the disappearances are happening within a very close-by area, and this is why I am remanding myself into police custody until new information comes to light. I can only pray that the police find the person or people behind these kidnappings as soon as possible, and send my prayers out to all my fellow citizens that our loved one return home safe and sound." Then Hino-sensei turned around and walked into the police station.  
++++++++++++++++++

What? Were you expecting Rei for some reason? If she's being Sailor M over in England then she can't exactly be living at the Shrine.

I plan to post it in an interlude, so I'll just give you the background now. Rei's father is an as yet unnamed politician who currently serves in England's Parliament. He met her mother, Miyabi Hino, while studying abroad in college. He returned to Japan with an internship job at the embassy (his family had connections) and they began a relationship. Her father reluctantly gave them permission to wed, and they moved back to England.

P.S. The first person to correctly guess where I got Rei's mother's name (Miyabi) gets a one-shot/omake/oc/something cool of their choice. Happy hunting!


	8. Hit and Run

Sensei is a term that refers to a teacher, doctor, or priest.

I don't own Sailor Moon.  
+++++++++++++++++++

"Okay, this really has to stop!" Usagi ranted when the senshi plus Naru assembled for an emergency meeting at Haruka's apartment after dinner that evening. "How many people do they already? Three buses—"

"Four," Ami interjected.

"Four buses, twenty people on each bus, that's like, seventy people!"

"Eighty."

"_Whatever_!" Usagi shrieked, still pacing. "My point is that we need to stop this now! Do we even know how many people have already _died_? How many more will die if this keeps up? We can't let that happen." She whirled around again and collapsed onto the couch, tears streaming from her eyes.

"All those poor people…"

"We'll rescue them," Naru said firmly, "we just have to figure out how."

"Can't we jus' hop on a bus and see where it goes?" Haruka asked. She looked relaxed, but her knuckles were white.

"We would have to know which bus," Ami objected quietly, looking up statistics on her computer. "There are three routes that use that stop, and two of them are relatively heavy in terms of traffic. At least five buses pass through every hour. Moreover, we have no idea if being on the bus is a good idea, or if it's the only way to get in."

"What does that mean?"

"If they teleport the buses away then we'd need to be on the bus, but if they use a spell to knock people unconscious then being on the bus could just get us captured. We need more information."

"How can we get it? Just hang around with your visor and wait for a bus to be grabbed so you can watch, at the cost of those people's safety?" Naru sounded surprisingly vehement, and Ami flinched.

"Of course I don't want anyone to get taken," she choked out quietly, and was starting to cry a bit too, "but if we go in blind and get captured then things will be even worse for everyone. I hate this just as much as you do." Teats were flowing freely now, and Naru hugged her.

"…Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry, you didn't deserve that."

"It's natural that we're all a little high-strung," said Luna. "This is our biggest challenge to date, and it doesn't look like one that we are winning. Worse, this doesn't seem like Zoicite's modus operandi, suggesting that a second general has gotten involved. If they are working together, the stakes have been raised severely."

"So what do we do?" Haruka asked, cutting to the chase. Everyone turned to look at Usagi, who took her head out of her hands. She glanced around uncertainly, and decided to pass the buck.

"Ami, what choices do we have?"

"Well, we have several, not all of which are good." She produced the Mercury computer and began typing on it. "One: we can take the direct approach and keep riding buses until we get lucky and are abducted. Downsides: we'd need to split up to make all of the buses, which would divide our forces; we would be vulnerable to any traps the buses had planned for us; and it would eat up a lot of time and funds."

"Okay… bus fare isn't that important, but I don't want to go in without you guys backing me up, especially if Zoicite brought a friend this time," Usagi decided, nixing the idea.

"Option two: we watch for another bus to be taken, or rather, I watch with my visor, and then try to follow it or reconstruct the method they used. Possibly we might just have to identify and board a second bus after that, if we can't recreate what they did. Downsides—"

"It would take too long, and it would mean letting them get another group of people, or more, which is a really bad idea," Usagi interjected. "Don't we have anything we can do _now?_"

"I already looked at the area where the buses have been disappearing. There were traces of negative energy and some form of spatial distortion, but I couldn't get a good read on what. If we knew when a bus was coming before hand we could get on it and infiltrate, but we don't."

"But Hino-sensei did! We can get him to tell us when he gets one of those headaches and then get and BAM!" Usagi yelled, having a eureka moment. Ami tried to insert a measure of reality.

"Usagi, Hino-sensei is in jail. They're not going to let him out to wait at the temple, and the jail might be too far away for him to get a signal, so to speak."

"Yeah, but he went there on his own, he's not under arrest! That means they have to let him out if he wants to leave, right?" Ami paused, as this had not occurred to her.

"Perhaps," she allowed. "I am uncertain as to what the law is on the subject of willing custody."

"Even if they don't let him out, couldn't we give him a communicator and he could call us?"

"I see where you're going with this," Haruka said, "but why would he listen to a random bunch of girls? It's not like we can just tell him we're the senshi."

"Why not?" asked Usagi, and everyone stopped.

"Usagi!" Luna yelped, being the first one to recover. "Telling people your identities places you and them in great danger. What if the Dark Kingdom targets them to get that information? Then it could go after your families or attack you in your sleep! That's why you can't tell anyone about your work as a senshi."

"Right, because Naru's already been targeted for being involved, and she'd be so much safer if she just hung around, unable to protect herself in case she caught got in a draining operation, which would have already happened at least once or twice if she wasn't with me. Her not knowing about me kept her really safe when the Osaka-P was attacked, didn't it? Umino not knowing kept him _safe_ from the contest and the circus, too. Right?"

"I…that's not…" Luna paused, rattled by what Usagi was suggesting. The blonde sighed.

"I'm not saying we should scream it to the newspapers, or even just tell our parents, since mine would flip, though I sort of wish I could," Usagi explained, "but Naru lampshaded it when she first convinced Luna to let her join, about how secret super heroes always need more help with their identities than they get in stories. We should be able to let one or two _trustworthy_ people in on it without risking everything, right?"

"I don't…"

"I mean, come on, how is the Dark Kingdom going to know that they know about us? And don't argue that they might be caught in a random youma attack, because that hasn't happened in any of the attacks before now. They drain people, not question them."

"…Lampshaded?" Ami asked, being the first one to recover use of her tongue.

"Heh, heh? I, um, read about it online," Usagi said with a nervous grin. "It means when they talk about parts of a story in the story itself, like about how girls always react really violently in embarrassing situations with guys they like, even if it's their fault and not the guy's." She got a bunch of blank looks.

"Why would ya read about that?" Haruka asked.

"Naru pointed out that I'm pretty much living a manga series plot now, so in my spare time I've been reading all the magical girl stories and stuff I could find, and I looked some stuff up online, too. I've been reading some fan-fiction, and one story mentioned it had a page on this website, so I followed the link and found this cool site where they talk about all the stuff that people commonly put into different stories as part of the plot."

"Do you really think that helps?" Ami asked with a sweat drop.

"It's what gave me the idea that Haruka was a senshi, and I was right!" Usagi said proudly.

"Well, I guess it couldn't hurt too much," said Luna finally. "It might even help, as it did with Sailor Uranus, so I won't tell you to stop. I still wish you would spend more time on your studies and training, though. That being said, have you really _thought_ about the consequences of telling this Hino priest?"

"Yup," Usagi agreed. "I've got it all figured out. First, I'll pretend to be someone who goes to his temple and wants to talk to him. Even real prisoners get visiting hours, right? Then if there's a guard in the room I'll pretend to start crying about how I know he's innocent and this is so unfair and hug him, and then I'll whisper in his ear that I'm Sailor Moon and I need his help finding the buses. Since he's not a prisoner they shouldn't stop him from going home if he says he wants to. Then he tells us when the bus is coming, and _wham_!"

"You do realize, Usagi, that the law of dramatic irony insists that something will go wrong now that you've told us the plan, right?" asked Naru.

"That's called Finagle's Law, and this is real life, not a story," Usagi countered. "Besides, if there is some law of dramatic planning irony, and it does kick in, then it would turn out that everything ends up alright anyway, even if things don't go completely according to plan, same as in the manga."

"But we aren't in a manga!"

"So why would the law kick in?"

"As interesting as this meta-debate is," Ami interrupted, "we have moved off-topic. Can you spell out the plan one more time, Usagi, just so we know all the details?"

"All right," she chirped. "Tomorrow morning, I take a spare communicator and go visit Hino-sensei at the police station. Um… do you know where it is, Ami?" The bluenette fiddled with her computer for a few silent moments before nodding.

"Yes, I have the address here."

"Alright! So I go visit him, tell him I'm Sailor Moon and need his help, and he either leaves the jail or I leave a communicator with him. He tells us when the bus is coming and we get on, and dust the youma."

"That…sounds like a remarkably good plan," Ami said.

"I'm all for it," Haruka agreed. "I'd have problems telling some old guy I don't know that I was a senshi, but this way he only has to know about Koneko."

"I'm in," Naru said. "Although… should I come along on this one? I won't have your protections and powers, so I might just get in the way."

"I think it may be best if you sit this one out, just to be safe," Luna agreed. "And while I am hesitant to let anyone know about your duties, this really is the fastest way to stop the Dark Kingdom. Also, if his powers are as strong as has been suggested, his charms genuinely may be of use against the youma, which could finally give young Naru a tool to fight with. He could even possibly tutor Usagi in magic."

"Only Usagi? Why not the rest of us?" Ami asked.

"I'm afraid that our group, as it is, happens to be a bit weak on the magic front. Senshi magic is different from normal magic, so he couldn't help you with that. Usagi also has non-senshi magic as well—"

"I _do_?"

"—which I simply haven't remembered how to tutor her in. Most of the senshi had their own magic aside from the mantle, as being a senshi was an appointed position, and some skill in magic was often a prerequisite, along with intelligence and combat skills."

"So why can't he teach us?" Haruka asked. "If we had the skills back then—"

"Because there are exceptions to every rule. At the Fall of the Silver Millennium, only two of the active senshi did not have any non-planetary magic: Mercury and Uranus. It was felt that your respective intelligence and combat prowess acted as sufficient compensation for your lack of magic."

"So, we're the only ones who didn't have magic because we didn't need it?"

"Like Charles Atlas," Usagi chirped, but was ignored.

"Yes. Unfortunately, you also lack some of the talents that acted as compensation then. Uranus, while lacking magic, could use her own life-energy as fuel to augment her physical prowess. Mercury was an accomplished computer technician, scientist, and mechanic. But in this lifetime Uranus lacks the frighteningly intense training she went through to reach that level, and Mercury has forgotten many of the skills she developed."

"So basically, we suck," Haruka summarized.

"Brought down to normal," Usagi lampshaded again. The author whacked her to get her back on track. "Ow! That hurt."

"So basically, reincarnation weakened you more than it would have the other senshi," Luna continued, ignoring Usagi. "On top of _that_ is the fact that your powers need to re-accustom themselves to your bodies, and getting you back into top shape would take far more time than we have. It is no fault of your own, and you are still doing a fantastic job as senshi."

"You guys are still better off than me," Naru pointed out self-depreciatingly.

"You know," Usagi mused, "I really want to hear more about how people were chosen as senshi and stuff."

"Later I will be happy to tell you what little I remember. For now, though, you should return home before your parents begin to worry. Does everyone understand the plan?" There were various affirmatives. "Good. Moon and I will contact you via communicator in the morning. Sleep well, as you will need to be alert."  
+++++++++++++++++++

Usagi did not sleep well, any more than she had for the past few weeks. The idea of so many people being gone while she was supposed to protect them was horrifying. Her dreams roiled with youma all the time, but now there were bodies as well many. Many bodies, of people the youma had ripped apart, all accusing her of failing them.

"No. I _will_ save everyone," she told her reflection in the bathroom mirror. Then she wilted. If the Dark Kingdom had already killed them, she wasn't sure she could ever forgive herself. Seeing the light of dawn beginning to peek through the window, she examined her reflection.

"I'm going to need more make-up," she said, poking the bags under her eyes that she covered over every morning. Remembering her transformation phrase, she giggled at the thought of _more_ make-up.

"Maybe moon powered make-up would work better than the regular earth stuff." She giggled again. Her stomach rumbled.

"Well, I'm up, and the sun's up, so I might as well keep it company," she told herself. _And it will be nice to shock everyone by being the first up. Maybe I can make some pancakes for everyone else. I can't wait to see the looks on their faces!  
++++++++++++++++++++_

"You have a visitor, Hino-sensei," a police officer said as he politely escorted the aged priest into the sparse room. It usually served as an interrogation room, but they had repurposed it at Usagi's request to visit the old man. Her puppy-dog eyes and quivering lip had probably helped, along with the fact that he wasn't technically a prisoner so much as he was a guest, albeit one who slept in a cell.

It also helped that he was the priest of the neighborhood, and thus half of the policemen (and women) at this station had known him growing up.

"Ah, little Usagi," he said with a smile. "What brings you here?"

"Oh, Hino-senseeeeeeei!" she wailed, and rushed over to hug him as the policeman politely stepped outside.

"Ah, now, now," he said, slightly confused. "Are things really so bad?" He didn't know whether she was upset over his (willing) imprisonment, or whether she had some personal problem she had come to him for help with, despite having only met yesterday. _She seemed such a cheerful child yesterday. I wonder what could have gotten her in such a state?_

"Hino-sensei, don't react to what I'm about to tell you," she whispered in his ear, hugging him tighter and pretending to sob. "I'm Sailor Moon, and I need your help finding the missing buses." He stiffened at the confession, and pulled himself away slightly before finally deciding that it was unlikely she was lying. It would explain a few things, now that he thought of it.

"Really?" he asked kindly, as though she had just pored out some personal problem.

"Uh-huh." She nodded furiously when she said this, hoping to make it seem like it was just a personal matter to any watcher.

"Well then, come and let's talk about this." He moved over to the table in the middle of the room.

Rather than sit across from him interrogation-style, Usagi dragged her chair around to sit at the side or the table. Then she realized she was looking straight at the mirror/viewing window, and dragged it around to the other side so her back was facing it. _Take that, random lip-readers!_ she thought triumphantly. They had a tendency to pop up at the worst times in stories.

"Now, how can I help, assuming you're being truthful?" he asked.

"We think we can rescue everyone if we just know which bus to track, but we don't know how to tell," she explained quietly. "Do you still get your headaches so we know which bus to get on?"

"Yes. In fact, I usually get premonitions stronger when I am off the temple grounds, as there are no protections to blot out the evil spirits' power," he confirmed. "But if I leave now it would look highly suspicious, so I can't be there to warn you. I could leave if I must, but…"

"That's why I want you to hold on to this," Usagi said, and pressed a communicator into his hands. "Just press the button and we'll know about it."

"I'll be glad to be of service. Now if I may ask, how did you start…?" he trailed off, not wanting to be overheard. The room looked empty, but there may be recorders.

"Start?"

"Being what you are? Fighting?"

"Um, well, it starts with reinwhatsit…when you die and turn into a baby?" The old man blinked.

"Reincarnation?"

"Yeah, that's it," she agreed. "I was, then we all died, and now we are again."

"I see…the philosophical implications are astounding."

"It's magic," Usagi whispered with a shrug.

"That it is, I suppose. One more thing." She nodded to show she was listening. "Have you considered informing the proper authorities of your status and asking for help? The sen—you all are not exactly criminals, but many people would like to know more about you, and to either help you, or for you to help them. Most people can't even imagine what is going on, and those who aren't desperately trying to ignore it are becoming very nervous, if not completely frightened."

"Um, well…I'll bring it up with everyone, but Luna probably won't like it, and I think a youma would eat the cops for breakfast. Oops! Forget I said that about Luna, will you?"

"My, I really must be getting old—my hearing is going. I didn't hear a word you said just now."

"Alright. So headache: press the button."

"Understood. Best of luck, and kami bless."

"Thanks," Usagi said with a smile, and moved toward the door. _Take that, law of dramatic irony!_ she crowed silently.

And of course, she promptly tripped over her own feet and fell into the door, giving herself a black eye.  
+++++++++++++++++++++

Mamoru was in his apartment, working on a report for his history course, when he felt the tug of Sailor Moon's transformation. He frowned and closed his eyes in a moment of quiet meditation.

_She's not afraid or excited, so there isn't an attack right now. She is, however, rather anxious. No curiosity, and not much awareness, but some boredom. Alright...this isn't a practice session or a scouting mission. It's a stakeout._ He had conjured up a rose and donned his disguise in an instant, leaping out of his balcony window and onto the roof of the building next door.

"Please don't let me be late," he muttered. Then, remembering last night's discussion with the Princess, he made an addendum. "Please don't let me need my new powers, either."

_"You are going to gain new powers, like your stealth and physical enhancements, as your body becomes adapted to the ones you already have,"_ she had told him. "_You already know that you aren't limited to only summoning roses. In fact, you aren't limited to just summoning flowers from earth, but you don't know what you could summon, so it won't be of much help. Flowers, however, are only the beginning."_

Thinking of his athletic increases and stealth, he'd asked what else he was capable of, and she smiled.

"_I know what you're thinking, and no,"_ she'd teased. "_While you will eventually be able to blow things up and fight on par with a senshi or youma, that will not be for a long time. However, you have powers that are even more important. Healing powers."_ He hadn't understood much of the explanation that followed, but what had happened the morning after-this morning, in fact-would stay in his mind forever. To experiment, he'd lightly cut himself as a test.

His hand had glowed gold and the cut healed without a trace in seconds. That, more than anything else, even the senshi and the youma, had emphasized how different everything was becoming.

_Where are they?_ he wondered, coming to rest on a rooftop. He could feel that Sailor Moon was nearby, just across the street perhaps, but he couldn't see her. Then he took another look at the group of people. _Got you. The T-shirt is a dead giveaway in this cold,_ he thought looking at a group of three teenaged girls standing a little ways from the bus stop. Most people were wearing two layers and long sleeves, mindful of the approaching winter's cold, but a blonde with her hair in a long ponytail was wearing a T-shirt.

_I wonder if that's her civilian form. No, it couldn't be. I can only sense her when she's transformed. Still..._ Mindful of the fact that the three appeared to be in no hurry, he swung into a tree and called upon his concealment magic, which felt like mentally curling up into a tiny little ball and not moving.

_Let's hope this isn't too long a wait. Wait. Isn't this where Motoki said those buses have been disappearing?_ He suddenly had a much better idea of what brought the senshi here in disguise, and was glad he had apparently made it with time to spare.  
+++++++++++++++++++

"I'm bored," Usagi, henshined as Sailor Moon and re-disguised as a regular teenager, said for the eighth time that hour. "Can the bus just hurry up come already?"

"It'll come, Koneko!" Haruka said, next to her and irate at how hot her hoodie-disguise was. "I agree, 'cause I really wanna kick some ass, but we have to wait. Still if the bus keeps me waiting in this outfit for much longer, I'll stop kicking ass and just bury my boot up the youma's butt."

"Thank you for that image," Ami said clinically, looking up from her book for the first time in forty-five minutes. She fiddled with her pair of blue, mirrored sunglasses, the result of the disguise pen's effect on Sailor Mercury's visor, and frowned. "We're not alone."

"Duh, there are a bunch of people waiting at the bus stop a few meters away," Haruka drawled.

"I meant that Tuxedo Kamen is concealed within a nearby tree," Ami explained.

"Oh? How long has he been there?"

"What! Where? Which tree?" Usagi squeaked and started looking around nervously, fiddling with her hair. _Is he watching me right now? Oh, I must look like a mess! What must he be thinking of me? Wait, can he even tell which one __**is**__ me?_

"Oh dear, Koneko, Mamoru is going to be so disappointed," Haruka teased. "Still, do we need to worry?"

"Directly across the street. I think he knows we're here, but not who. He might have figured it out by now, though, since we haven't taken any of the buses that have come by. To judge by the traces, I'd say he's been there almost half an hour. Don't bother looking for him," Ami added to Usagi, who was craning her neck in an attempt to see him, "he's using some magical field to blend into the shadows."

"Aww…" Usagi sighed. "I'm surprised he can hide in tree, since so many have lost a lot of leaves." Then she spotted a familiar face. "Hey, Daito is coming down the steps. Think his shift is over? I thought he'd be working overtime to help now that Hino-sensei is gone."

"Maybe he's just running an errand," Ami suggested turning to look at him as a bus pulled up. Just then, Usagi's communicator began buzzing.

"Shit, that's the bus! Daito's going to get caught up in it." _And I'm swearing again, dam—__**darn**__ it!_

"More than that," Ami muttered as they moved to join the line of riders, "He's radiating a little negative energy now that he's not on the shrine's grounds. I think he's involved with this."

"Why must the evil guys be cute?" Usagi lamented, digging through her purse for bus fare. The three of them moved to stand in the back and the bus began rolling again. "Do you see anything, Merc?"

"The passengers and driver look normal, but Daito is fiddling with some device that's sending out a signal, and there's a mild distortion beginning. I'm not sure—" she was cut off by a round of gasps and a few yells as the scenery outside the window suddenly shifted from bright and sunny to a dark, polychromatic sky. There wasn't time for more reaction than that, though, as a flash of light caused everyone to slump over, unconscious. Usagi promptly pretended to fall over, too, and Haruka and Ami followed suit. Daito stood up as the door opened, and the bus kept driving for a few seconds, before it pulled into the end of a row alongside the other missing buses. A youma, mottled purple with smooth yellow blobs sticking out of its skin in places, walked onto the bus.

"General Jadeite, Gallerus reporting for duty," it rasped.

"Good," said Daito, now revealed to be General Jadeite. His outfit changed into a gray military uniform that matched Zoicite's. "I assume you've been briefed?"

"Yes, milord. I can have the cattle drained dry in less than an hour." There was a crackle, and the youma screamed as Jadeite blasted it. Usagi turned her head to see, and luckily neither of the enemies noticed

"…You either weren't briefed, or you weren't paying attention," Jadeite deadpanned. "Drain the humans, yes, but keep them alive. The original take goes to our Great Leader, and the shreds we keep collecting go to keeping this space open. Don't be the reason I need to take another three days to set up a pocket dimension generator—I'll torture you to death _slowly_, assuming you survive the dimensional collapse."

"Understood, milord." Its breath sounded even wheezier than before. Motes of energy flowed from the people to the youma.

"Give me the first part of the take for our Great Leader, and I'll hook you into the generator." Energy gathered into the youma's hands, and flowed into a dark green crystal the general produced. Then he put his hand on the kneeling youma's head and a small line of energy drifted away out of sight. "Eat enough to keep you active, but keep a trickle flowing down to the generator as well. Alert me if anything changes. I will return for the rest in two hours," he said, and teleported away.

"This promises to be fun," Gallerus groused, and crouched down on the floor, as though to take a nap. Usagi moved a hand into her companions' view and held up three fingers. Then two. Then one.

"Moon Tiara Magic!" she snapped quietly, dropping the disguise and rolling into the aisle. The youma snapped awake and jerked its head up…and the tiara hit it at eye level. The other two senshi bit off their own incantations as the dust fell to the floor.

"Alright, plans?" Usagi asked.

"I would assume that there is one youma per bus, doing the same thing as this one, and it sounds as though this dimensional generator would be important. Its failure might kill all of us, specifically. I'll go find it and see if I can manipulate it. You two take out the youma?" Ami suggested.

"Hell yeah," Haruka responded. Usagi nodded and moved to stand up, but was pulled back down by the other blonde. "Crawl," Haruka suggested. "We'll give the game away if they see us through the windows. She nodded again and they crawled toward the door.

"Ew, get me a vacuum," Usagi griped as they maneuvered around the pile of gray dust. They tumbled out the open bus door, and crouched down, scanning the area. The rest of the row of buses was on the other side of this bus and no other youma were in sight.

"Alright, four buses, so four youma. Mercury, you go do whatever you can with the thingy. Uranus, how should we tackle the buses?"

"Let's try and take out as many as we can quietly," Haruka said.

"Problem," Ami interjected. "I can see the generator," she pointed around the corner at a twisted metal statue that was the nexus of several flows of energy, "and so can all the youma. I'll need a distraction if I want to work on it, since my mist will give everything away anyway."

"Can't you use your glove?" Usagi asked, remembering her friend's enhancement.

"Yes, but I couldn't see what I was using it to do at this range."

"Room for one more?" asked a voice from above them, and it was only Haruka's quick thinking that kept Usagi's screech from ruining the plan. The danger passed, and she mumbled something through the older blonde's gloved hand.

"Sorry, about that," Kamen said a little sheepishly, and dropped down lightly from the bus's roof. "I jumped on the bus's roof when I saw the portal open," he added, answering the unasked question.

"Cool," Usagi cooed, before shaking herself a little. "How did you know where we were? Mercury said you were watching for almost half an hour, and we were in disguise."

"You don't know?" He sounded genuinely surprised. "There's some sort of magical signal that tells me where you are so I can rush there whenever I feel you transform."

"You can stalk us?" Haruka asked, sounding disturbed.

"It only works for Sailor Moon," he said quickly, and when he realized that this wasn't a vote of confidence, "and it only works when you're transformed." He paused, seeing he was not in danger of being assaulted. "Care to fill me in?"

"Can we trust you?" Haruka asked accusingly.

"Ur—" Usagi bit off her screech and hissed instead. "Uranus, he's been fighting alongside me since before you or Mercury showed up, and he's had plenty of chances to toss a rose at my back if he was going to do so. Of course we can trust him!" Haruka fiddled with her mask, unnerved by the nearness of a stranger.

"Alright, sorry," she begrudged. "But even if she trusts you, doesn't mean I will. I'm watching you."

"Fair enough. I don't always trust myself, either."

"The situation is as follows," Ami began, regaining their attention. "We believe there to be four youma, one on each bus, excluding the one we already defeated. Furthermore, it is possible that if we dust all the youma carelessly, the loss of energy could cause the generator sustaining this dimension to fail, causing fatal space-time collapse. I may be able to stop this if I can fiddle with the generator for a little while, but it is in plain view of all the youma. My fog would give the game away anyway, so we need to distract the youma, likely by fighting."

"Can your fog give us cover to fight with?" Kamen asked. Ami shook her head.

"I am uncertain that I could maintain my mist and manipulate the generator. However, from what I can tell of the energy requirements of the generator at this range, it requires input from two youma at least to maintain this space, and three would be a safety margin I'd recommend. Thus we can only dust one or two at most, and need to incapacitate the others non-lethally while I work. Lastly, it was suggested that the youma can, through an unknown method, summon one of the Dark Generals, which would be a large boost of fire-power to their side. Understood?"

"Yes," he said succinctly. "So, kill one of the youma, and engage the other three one-on-one, with someone prepared to kill their target and fight the general if need be?"

"That should be me," Usagi immediately volunteered. "I'm the only one with a one-shot spell."

"Sounds good to me," Haruka said with a grin.

"Mercury, on the count of three, run for the thingy," Usagi said, inching around the side of the bus. "I'm going to scream and get their attention, alright?" There were various affirmatives, and Kamen jumped back onto the bus roof with a muffled thud. "One. Two. _Threeeeee_!" she trilled, gems active. Ami started running as howls of shock came from the buses.

"Intruders!" an orange youma yelled, leaping out the windshield. It took three roses to the face.

"Moon Tiara Magic!" It burst into dust and the fighters each targeted their chosen youma. Kamen faced down a green youma with a bulging stomach. Uranus took on a yellow, bird-like foe. Moon ended up face-to-face with chunk of walking—lumbering, really—sandstone. _Great, a big guy_.

* * *

The golem stared down at Sailor Moon, who didn't even come up to waist height, and smiled. It raised one arm.

Usagi exploded into a jump kick she learned from Haruka, and nearly screamed as she hit it with her toe instead of her heel, before momentum carried her forward and she splashed across its chest. She peeled her herself off just in time to avoid being squashed as the youma pressed its arms to its chest, and stumbled/rolled away.

She leapt back even further as it took a slow step forward, and her leg nearly gave out on her again. _This is bad. Owie. No more cool marshal arts tricks until I'm good enough to pull them off. Crud._ She took a step to the side as it swung at her and missed. _Okay, think. What did Ami say about analwhatsiting the enemy? Strengths and weaknesses…He's big, _and suddenly her head exploded into pain as an ear-piercing shriek—from someone else, for once—hit her like a ton of bricks. The rest of her body soon followed, as she didn't dodge the youma's next punch, and she somersaulted backwards a good four or five meters. _Owie…my everything hurts. Was that from Haruka's bird?_

She opened her eyes as the youma lumbered towards her and realized that she was more than halfway to Ami, and it was gaining. _Gotta stop it._

She pulled herself to her feet and closed in on it. _Okay, it's big. It's painfully strong and hitting it hurts. I'm soooooo glad it's slow, and I'm betting it's pretty dumb, since it hasn't even said anything yet. Okay…_

She closed the distance, ducked under a right hook, and tried to rabbit punch it in the chest, only to jerk back with a stinging fist. She spent the next few seconds keeping out of reach and trying not to fall. _Come on… My leg would usually have stopped hurting so bad by now, at least. Did I hurt it _that _badly? Wait. Crud. _She glanced up into the warping space above._ No sun, no stars, no healing. Aw, man, I really can't keep fighting this guy like this._

She was almost clipped by a punch she only barely dodged. It was only the pain and adrenaline that kept her active. It wasn't, however, anywhere near enough to give her the rush she got from being shredded by flower petals.

_How would Haruka or Ami beat this guy? Could they? Haruka'd just wail on him until he goes down, and Ami would freeze him. Is he tough enough to take a tiara and not get dusted? Do I want to find out?_ She panicked as she realized she was losing ground, getting closer to Ami, and hopped to the side to try and draw it away.

That was all that saved her when a second ear-splitter hit her, and she dropped to her knees in pain, feeling the wind from the missed punch ruffle her hair.

She rolled back as it almost stepped on her, and scrambled further out of its reach, desperately trying to stand up as it repeatedly missed her by inches. _Come on, big guy, cut me a break. I can't even get up. Let's put you on the ground and see how you like it. Hey…_ Usagi grinned, inspiration having struck.

She dodged a punch and bolted forward as the giant took a step. Wrapping her arms around the lifted leg—difficult, as its knee came up to her ribs—she lifted and shoved. _Hard._ The giant toppled backwards with a groan, and thudded into the dark sand that acted as the ground.

"Take that, evildoer. Good will always tri—!" Her victory speech was cut short when a flailing leg slammed into her ribs, and she went tumbling. She sat up in time to see the youma trying to do the same, and groaned. "Right. Talking not a free action. Owie."

"I'm done!" Ami yelled. "You can dust them now!" Usagi grinned nastily at her prone target.

"_Moon Tiara Magic."_

* * *

Haruka snorted as the half-bird flexed the claws on the end of its wing-arm hybrids. "Boo-hoo, a big nasty bird, oh woe is me," she taunted. It chittered something unidentifiable and leapt at her.

Haruka ducked under its body and swung her left leg up behind her to counterbalance, slamming her heel into its beak as it passed over her. Unfortunately, when she tried to finish the move, it wrapped one hand-thingy around her extended ankle and flew straight up. Haruka, of course, unwillingly followed.

"Hands to yourself," she growled, and scissor kicked with her free leg, slamming her foot into its beak again. Then the blonde twisted and pointed her palm straight at it with a grin. "Uranus Space Shock!"

The bolt of orange slammed into its chest and it let go, leaving Haruka to drop the four meters it had risen in the meanwhile. She hit the dirty sand face first, and spit it out as she pulled herself up. "Shit, shit, shit!" _Of all the times to get sand in my eyes,_ she cursed to herself, wiping at her face with one hand, and forcing her left eye open through the tears. "Come and get me, ugly!"

"Tseeeeeeeew!" the youma screeched, and Haruka actually felt her tiara buzz. _Thanks for telling me where to aim, sucker,_ she thought, and pointed her free hand at where the noise had come from. Before she could begin the incantation the swooping bird slammed into her, talons raking her shoulder, ribs, and back.

Haruka immediately grabbed on to the feathers and flesh, and lashed out blindly with her free arm as she tried to get some space. _Wait, get some space? I'm stronger than this bastard!_ She immediately stopped pushing and pulled, getting within its range and squeezing until she heard something crack. Then everything she was holding onto changed, becoming harder and sharper, and the youma forced its way out of her grasp.

She finally managed to open one eye, although the other was still sanded shut, and almost freaked at how much red was on her. On the bright side, she could make out that that her enemy was dripping green from several wounds on its chest, and had one wing at an odd angle. Then, as she watched, motes of energy coalesced around said wing and it cracked back into place.

_No fair, why is it healing and I'm not? Crud, I'm losing a lot of blood. Woozy…_ she mentally slurred as the world swam a little. The youma swung its wing at her, even though she was three meters out of range. Before she could even wonder at its actions, cold pain erupted from her side and leg.

"Argh!" she screamed, and her hands jerked to the wounds, finding something hard and flat. _Knives? No, the fucker threw its feathers at me. I hope it doesn't keep doing that._ She wrenched them out, biting back a second scream, and countered with "Uranus Space Shock!" The youma mostly dodged, but was clipped on the wing and went tumbling. It looked to take another swing at her, but then its head turned to the side.

"Tseeeeeeew!" it shrieked, causing Haruka's tiara to buzz harmlessly again, and it took off, flying away at an angle.

"Yeah," Haruka yelled after it, "you better ru—" _AMI!_ her mind screamed at her. Haruka exploded off the ground before she'd even finished her thought, and world blurred as she saw the youma closing in on her blue-haired friend.

Ami was in some trance, facing away from the youma with her back wide open. Then Haruka's vision went yellow and she was skidding along the sand fighting a screaming mass of yellow feathers with claws. She'd tackled the youma out of the air, but she could feel her strength giving out. _Please don't let this kill us all, _she prayed, and forced a hand into its open beak, which tried to bite down.

"Uranus. S-space. Shock!" She stayed conscious long enough to see its headless body begin to crumble into dust, and then her world faded into black, as her body handed her the adrenalin expenses bill.

* * *

"Not even a senshi," the round, green youma gurgled at Mamoru. "This going to be boring, Glurg thinks."

"Yeah, well I think—" Mamoru's response—an elegant quip about speaking and thinking—was cut off as he dodged away from the jet of green liquid the toady youma spat at him.

"Glurg think you die now," it grumbled. _Right, screw the banter, then,_ Mamoru thought to himself. He'd had a hard time giving his flowery speeches with a straight face ever since he'd realized he had a nighttime job hunting demons, anyway, so it was just as well. A sudden screech rasped along his skull, and he flinched as the world spun, and only just dodged another spray of sick.

_Was that this guy? No, it came from behind me. I hope the senshi are okay, that sounded nasty._ A flick of his wrist conjured three roses into his hand, and he threw them at the sitting target. Said sitting target spat another jet that plucked them out of the air in response, and he dodged again. Out of the corner of his eye he saw that the roses were still intact in the goopy green puddle. _Not acid, then. That's a relief. Still, I don't want to get hit._

He tossed another three roses in a spread, so that the youma couldn't shoot them all down, and had maneuvered himself so that the buses were on his left side. One rose got through the spray and buried itself in Glurg's gut. It didn't even flinch; it just turned one eye down lazily to look at the red protuberance, and then back at Tuxedo Kamen. "Glurg think Glurg sting."

"Of course that wouldn't work," Mamoru spat. He called another rose into one hand, and used his other to get a firmer grip on his cane. He waited for the youma swell, signaling it was about to spit. _Now!_ He threw a rose as it spit and immediately leapt onto the bus and off again, ricocheting toward the youma, cane at the ready.

_Thwack!_

He'd slammed his into the youma's head, and it had done absolutely nothing, that he could see. Mamoru tried to leap back, but his cane was stuck, and he was forced to leave it behind as he jumped over a second retaliatory spray. _Why couldn't I have a powerful spell like the senshi? This is so much easier when I'm just the supporting fire. _He landed and readied another three roses when he paused. Glurg had a wide grin plastered across its face. Then it started shuddering, emitting a choking, scraping sound, and Mamoru realized it was laughing. "What's so funny?"

"Glurg think Glurg win," it answered, and slapped the ground, laughing even louder. He frowned and shifted his stance to dodge more easily, and discovered the problem. His feet were stuck. _Oh no. I'm standing in one of his puddles. This stuff is like glue!_

"So I can't move, so what?" he said, buying time as he tried to wiggle his feet. "How are you going to beat me? Stink me to death with your bad breath? No wait, I know. You're really, really obese, and you're going to squash me." _Come on, come on… A little more…_

"No, Glurg going to cook you and eat you," it replied cheerfully. Then it began to swell up again as its skin took on a red glow. _Cook me? Don't tell me that this guy can spit fire… _It turned redder, and redder, until it opened its mouth and a wave of flame came pouring out. It spilled onto Kamen and the area around him, burning for a few moments before dying down. "Glurg cook him all gone," it said proudly, seeing only a field of ash and no Kamen.

_No, but I will need a new pair of shoes,_ Mamoru thought from on top of the bus he'd leapt to, leaving his shoes behind. _Still…_ just then a second earsplitting screech hit him like a brick and he winced, rolling back out of sight until the pain passed. _It's too much to hope for that I have __a__ lighter, I bet._ He didn't. _I really wish I smoked, now._

He conjured some more roses and aimed carefully as his target turned to look at Sailor Moon, struggling with a giant statue. _Now!_ He threw the roses just as it began to swell, and one pierced into its right eye while the other punched through its lips. Then, with a phenomenal magical effort, he conjured—not a rose—a sunflower as tall as he was and leapt down.

Instead of hitting it with the stem, he slammed the blossoming flower into its closed lips, and broke the stem off, relying on the adhesive to keep it stuck. Before it could do more than glare at him, Mamoru ruthlessly put out its other eye with the makeshift staff and roses, and then its legs, crippling it.

"I'm done! You can dust them now!" he heard Sailor Mercury call.

"I wish I could," he said grimly, and turned around to ask one of them to help. And saw Sailor Uranus. "Oh no! No!"

* * *

Ami was panting as she pulled to a stop in front of the twisted metal sculpture generating this area. _Well, I won't be winning any twenty-meter dashes any time soon,_ she thought as she turned on her visor and pulled out the Mercury computer. The readings she was getting were incredible. _That general wasn't lying about it taking three days to set this up, I think. The complexity…_ It took her several minutes of watching just to understand what she was seeing.

_This is a little bit like our sub-space bracelets, but so much more. It's like comparing an acorn to an oak tree. No, a blade of grass to a tree. And it's frighteningly efficient with the energy it's getting._ She flinched as an ear-splitting shriek made her world flash white and her visor blur for a moment, and instinctively glanced around. _They've got it under control_, she assured herself. She reached her hand into the tangle of energy the statue supported, and began weaving.

_Alright, I want to wean it off the life-energy, so…yes, I can hook it into my senshi powers, I think. This won't last for very long, but half an hour should be enough. But can I get the gate open from this end too; yes, but I have undo this first…_ Ami spasmed as a second screech split her skull open, or so it felt, but she was so deep into the coding and manipulation that she otherwise ignored it, playing with the lines of power.

_Twist, loop, knot, another loop, holding knot-loop-twist-pull-undo the holding knot, move this here, and…_ Her eyes snapped open and she straightened up, feeling a cold knot in her stomach where the generator was draining her energy, but otherwise unharmed.

"I'm done! You can dust them now!" she called to the others, and turned around. Usagi's tiara flashed as she did so, but Tuxedo Kamen had yelled something and was running away from his youma toward…_HARUKA!_  
++++++++++++++++++++

Another cliffy. Yes, I can be evil. In unrelated news the contest is still open, as no one has guessed right. I'll keep it open until someone does, since someone will eventually.

In an unrelated note, yes, Haruka's tiara is what kept the shriek from hurting her. Will she recover? Find out next chapter.


	9. Aftershocks

I don't own Sailor Moon. If I did, the senshi would be more badass, and the Outers would have been wasted by Moon after what they tried with Galxia.  
+++++++++++++++++++++

"Shit!" Usagi heard Tuxedo Kamen yell, and jerked her head in surprise. _Why's he running away from the youma?_ Then she saw Mercury running too. Then she saw what they were running towards.

"Haruka!" she yelled and dashed after them. She came skidding to a stop with both the others crouched over the bloody blonde, her stomach roiling.

"This is bad, this is very, _very _bad," Ami said, visor active. "She's heavily wounded, exhausted, and she's lost a lot of blood."

"Here, I have some healing powers," Kamen said, and pressed his hands to her side. Golden sparks played across his hands and her wounds, doing what they could, but it didn't look like enough.

"Mercury, we have to get her out of here!" Usagi said desperately.

"I'm not certain it's safe to move her," Ami said, and began fiddling with the bow on her back. "Get me some cloth so I can bind her wounds." Usagi grabbed her shoulders.

"There's no _sunlight_ here!" she screamed. "We need light for her to heal!" Ami jerked.

"Yes, you're right, I forgot." She paused and focused for a moment, twiddling and curling her fingers, and suddenly the air in front of them tore open, letting light spill onto the dark sand. "Tuxedo Kamen, can you take her to a roof where she'll be in the sunlight and keep healing her? You're what's keeping her alive right now."

"Yes," he said simply, and picked her up bridal style, leaping through the portal. Usagi moveed to follow, but stopped and looked back at the buses.

"We need to get these people out of here," she said dully, and Ami nodded.

"Har—Uranus won't die. She's too tough. Kamen's sparks are keeping her alive and in the sun her powers will kick in. But I can't support this dimension for more than twenty or thirty minutes, so we need to get them out. Can you drive?"

"You want _me_ behind a wheel?!" Usagi shot her a sick look. "I'd crash for sure! Can't you use your glove thingy so the buses drive themselves out or something?"

"I—yes, I could," Ami realized, "but my magic is busy supporting the dimension."

"So can't I support it and you drive? I've got more magic and you're not a wreck with stuff!"

"Y-yes, I can do that," Ami agreed. It took several minutes to hook Usagi to the generator and show her how to keep the portal open, but after that it was the work of a minute for the buses to drive themselves through. The two senshi followed to find a crowd beginning to form around the reappeared buses. Then people stepped back when the senshi stepped through the portal, and the muttering increased audibly. Usagi glanced around.

"Listen!" she yelled. "Can someone call the police? Everyone is going to be okay with some sleep and a big meal, but they should probably go to the hospital! We'd like to stay around, but we need to check on our teammate!" Then both senshi jumped onto the buses and took to the rooftops as the crowd began moving to examine the buses. Two blocks away the touched down on top of a convenience store to find Kamen cradling a bloody but breathing Uranus.

"She's alive, and she's getting better," Mercury said thankfully, "but it will take some time."

"Is there some base I could take her to?" Kamen asked.

"I…let me check," Usagi said, and moved to another rooftop to make a call.

"Moon, how did the mission go?" Luna asked, and Usagi saw Naru pop up in the background.

"We won, but Uranus got hurt really bad," she confessed. Her hands were shaking slightly.

"How badly are we speaking of?" Usagi sniffed.

"She was all torn up and covered in blood and she won't wake UUUUPP!" Usagi wailed.

"Calm down!" Naru yelled, cutting off Usagi's crying and Luna's more scathing response. "She's still alive, right?"

"Uh-huh," Usagi said, and hiccupped. "Mercury says she's not in danger of dying soon, and we've got her in the sunlight to heal, and Tuxedo Kamen's got some magic he's helping her with."

"_What_! You let that man near Uranus when she's hurt! Who knows what he could be doing!"

"If it wasn't for him she'd already be _dead_," Usagi snarled, "So _shut up_ Luna!"

"It's that bad?" Naru asked as Luna recoiled.

"Uh-huh. I'm calling 'cause he w-wants to know if there's somewhere h-he can take her. Her apartment, my house, the t-temple?"

"If it's that bad," Luna said, "I'd say take her to the hospital, and de-transform her once he's gone. That way she can get professional treatment, with no risk to her identity."

"Or you could take her to the temple, de-transform her, and call an ambulance," Naru added. "I've heard that you shouldn't move hurt people too much so let's not move her a lot, you think?"

"Uh-huh," Usagi said with a nod. Then she squared her shoulders and moved back to the trio on the other roof.  
+++++++++++++++++++

"Usagi, where have you—What happened to your _eye_? Are you alright?" Ikuko asked as her bedraggled daughter stumbled in the door. The first thing she noticed was a brilliant shiner of a black eye. Following that was the rest of her. Her clothes were almost immaculate, suggesting that she hadn't been in a fight, but the rest of her wasn't. If possible, her _skin_ looked worn, she looked haggard and was stumbling, and her eyes looked far too old and dim, so unlike her daughter usually was. "Usagi?"

"UWAAHH!" Usagi's dam finally broke, and she hit her mother like a torpedo, sobbing into her dress unintelligibly. Ikuko quickly maneuvered them both to the couch and wrapped her arms around her shaking daughter. After four or five minutes most of Usagi's tears were spent, as her mother crooned into her ear.

"What happened?" her father asked, having heard the noise from upstairs. Ikuko shot him a _look_ and Kenji hurriedly came over and sat on his daughter's other side. Shingo hung back in the stairwell, uncertain what was going on and not sure if he should set foot in this minefield. Sure, his big sister was a crybaby, but never like _this_.

"Usa," Ikuko said, taking her daughter's face in her hands, and gently turning it to the light. Her father hissed, and only an icy glare from his wife stopped him from going into a rant. _This isn't the time,_ it said. _We'll deal with this, yes, and we'll see whoever did this thrown into some dark hole for the rest of their short life, but now is not the time for screaming and yelling, now is the time for calm and quiet words, and for us to be her rock._ He calmed down and gave a short nod.

Shingo, meanwhile, had gone pale, and an uncomfortable feeling was worming its way through his gut. Someone had _hit_ his _sister._ He hadn't known that there was anyone that evil in the world, though admittedly he was only ten. Still…

"Usagi," her mother repeated. "Would you please talk to us? What happened to you?" Her daughter mewled, and managed to choke out a single strangled word. A name.

"H-h-har-ruka." Both her parents hissed at this, and their eyes were stone hard.

"Usagi," her mother said, as her father shifted to start getting up and track down the _bastard_ he'd heard his daughter talking about the past few weeks. "Usagi, I know you've always enjoyed meeting new people, and I'm proud that you're showing an interest in martial arts, but if he's been using it as an excuse to hurt you—"

"NO!" Usagi shrieked, rattling the windows, and her arm lashed out with a sharp *crack*. There was a pause as no one moved, too shocked to even breathe. "H-haruka's IN THE HOSPITAL!" Usagi wailed, breaking into tears again, and she ripped her away from parents, stumbled past her horrified brother, and bolted upstairs to her room. The room was silent for another moment, except for the ticking of the clock, and Shingo's own sniffling, as he had started crying, too.

For a moment, nobody moved. Nobody breathed.

"Dear," said a shocked Ikuko to her husband, raising a shaking hand to where her daughter had struck her. Her _daughter_ had _struck_ her. "Could you go try talking to Usagi, please. Calmly," she added, just to be clear. "I don't think she's going to want to talk to me for a while." She was idly glad she wasn't bleeding, but her mind was elsewhere. "Not until I know what I said wrong," she said, almost to herself.

"I...Yes. I will," Kenji said in a choked voiced, and he moved up the stairs, stopping only to shoo Shingo to his mother—everyone needed someone right now, it seemed.

"Mom," Shingo whispered, clinging to her, "W-what's going on?" His mother pulled him into her lap, where he could even see his sister's teardrop and make-up stains on her dress, and she began stroking his hair. She didn't answer for several minutes.

"I think," she said finally, still not certain of herself, "I think I forgot something very important about your sister, and that may have hurt more than she already was."

"Forgot?"

"Your sister," she said, turning to look at her son, "has a very big heart, and she loves to fill it up. With friends and family, and pets, and babies, and games she plays with little children at the park. You remember how she loved playing with you when you were little, right? Bunnysaurus and the T-Rex?"

"Uh-huh," he mumbled. It had been a while, but he could remember a little.

"Well another thing about your sister's heart," Ikuko continued gently, the sting of her cheek settling into a dull throb, "is that she cares about other people very, very much. Even more than she does herself, sometimes. I forgot that, and thought that she was upset about herself being hurt, instead of someone else. And I thought the wrong thing about whoever she was thinking about, and that hurt her even worse."

"…Is she going to be okay?" he asked quietly.

"Yes. She will be, given a little a time. I just hope that this…Haruka, will be okay, too. That will help."

"Uh-huh," Shingo said, because there wasn't much else to say, and cuddled further into his mother's lap.  
+++++++++++++++++++

"Usagi?" Kenji said gently, knocking on the door. "Usagi, it's me. It's your father. Can I come in?" There wasn't a response, so pushed the ajar door further open, and still the only sound was of a quiet sobbing. His daughter had buried her face in her pillow, and was curled up in the beam of sunlight her open window let in. He quietly padded over and sat down next to her, laying his hand on her shoulder. Words could not describe how grateful he was that she leaned into it, instead of pulling away from him. He wasn't sure if he could take that.

"Daddy?" he heard her whisper.

"Yes, Usa, it's me. Would you like to try talking again? Your mother's sorry about what she said, and she wants to apologize, and she wants to know what really happened." Usagi pulled her head away from the pillow and he tensed as he saw her black eye, and scooped an arm around her. "Can you start from the beginning?" His daughter's mind whirled.

_What can I tell him? What can I tell him? The truth? No, not now. Maybe someday, but I can't handle that right now. Oh, I wish Luna were back! Okay, I remember what Ami told the ambulance. I can go with that, I think._ She took a few ragged breaths and composed herself. _Part truths are the best, Naru said,_ she remembered.

"So we were checking out the shrine near where all buses disappeared yesterday," Usagi began.

"Are you sure that was safe?" her father asked, his eyes sharpening.

"We walked," she giggled, not willing to explain how _unsafe_ it really was. "So we talked to the priest, Hino-sensei, and he seemed like a really cool old man, and the shrine attendants were too." She paused, and Kenji could almost see his daughter's eyes darken as her mood took a turn for the worse. "Well, Inabi was. Daito was a _bastard_ and I hope he rots in hell."

"Language," he said automatically, because it was the only thing he could think of to say that he wasn't certain would make things worse. There were a million things he wanted to ask: about the buses; about this 'nice' old man; and about the boy who had so infuriated his daughter. He held his tongue. Usagi giggled guiltily.

"Sorry, I've been doing that more and more often," she admitted. "So last night Ami called me and told me to turn on the news, and I saw him going into police custody 'cause he was suspicious in the bus stuff." She was rambling, and was trying to keep from blowing her cover, worrying she may have admitted too much already.

"I saw you watching that on the television, last night."

"Yeah. So, I knew there's no way he could have done it, I mean, it's obviously mixed up in all this Sailor Moon and youma stuff, so I was upset. And I still wanted to volunteer at the shrine so I went to visit him at the police station this morning," here was where she trailed into the lies and she had to be careful, "so I did. And we went to the shrine this afternoon, and there was an accident." _What did Ami say to the ambulance guys? What did Ami say?_

"Accident?"

"Haruka fell down the steps and got hurt pretty bad. So we called an ambulance and they said she," Kenji missed the pronoun, thinking it was just her voice slurring, "would be okay, probably, but she'd be in bed for a few days and she'd need a bunch of stitches. And that if they hadn't gotten there when they did she might have died!"

"I'm sure it wasn't that bad," her father attempted to console her, and she glared.

"It was only 'cause Ami's mom is a doctor and she sorta knows how to handle this stuff and got me to wrap her up that she was still alive when the ambulance came and Haruka almost _died_ and its all my _fault_!" Usagi broke down again and Kenji pulled her into a hug.

"Shhh… There, there, Usa. It's all going to be okay." She calmed down slightly. "Now, why do you say it's your fault? It sounds like a perfectly natural accident to me." Usagi tensed and carefully kept her face hidden in her father's shirt. _Shit. Shit! Fuck, I didn't mean to say that! What do I say? What do I say?_ She relaxed as a plausible excuse came to her. _This is genius!_

"It's, it's 'cause she tripped 'cause I tripped," Usagi confessed, choking, and Kenji's gut knotted up.

_That would explain a lot, _he realized. _She tripped onto this Haruka guy, and he either went down with or moved to catch her, and now she thinks it's her fault. I probably would too, in her place. No wonder she lashed out like that. Ikuko accused the poor boy of hurting her when he got hurt saving her. God!_ He pulled her closer as a chilling thought occurred to him.

_If this Haruka hadn't been there it might have been her in the hospital right now. I hope he really is okay. Not only do I owe him a sincere thank you, but Usagi really might not recover if he doesn't._ He just held her tenderly for a few moments while he tried to think of something supportive to say that his daughter wouldn't instantly dismiss or see through. He couldn't so he decided to move on.

"I guess that explains the black eye," he said idly, trailing a hand through his daughter's tresses. She tensed beneath his hand, and he immediately worried about another breakdown, but instead she pushed away a little and just looked at him with wide, uncertain eyes—albeit one being swollen.

"Black eye?" she asked. "I have a black eye?" He raised an eyebrow and pressed a finger to the edge of the bruised area. She squeaked and pulled away further, pressing a finger of her own to the area and wincing. Then she whirled around to look in her vanity, and just stared for a few moments. Then she started giggling.

"Would you believe," she said a touch nervously, "that I forgot I had that?" She broke down laughing and her father followed suit. "It was when I visited Hino-sensei. I t-tripped and f-fell into a d-d-door!" She was almost hysterical still, but it was laughter and not tears. That was better. Still laughing, he picked her up and carried her downstairs to patch their family up again.  
++++++++++++++++++++

"Your Majesty," said Jadeite, teleporting into the throne room and kneeling, "I come bearing news."

"And energy, I can tell," Beryl added with a smile. A thought, and Zoicite was conjured into the chamber as well. He had healed over the past few days, and replaced his missing hand and eye with youma-esque versions, mottled purple and pink. "Behold the face of success, Zoicite. For the fifth day in a row Jadeite has brought an offering of energy for our Great Leader. More from one operation than all of yours combined."

Jadeite produced his medallion. Motes of light trickled out of it, coalescing into a blob that shot forward into the mountain of bones beneath Beryl's throne. For the fifth time in as many days the caverns rumbled as yet another chunk of Metaria's hunger was sated, and the youma all began chittering in excitement as trickles of power flowed out of the prison. Beryl smiled.

"I see and understand, My Queen," Zoicite said, biting down on what he wanted to say, as well as his desire to blast Jadeite into ash. He knelt down, praying that Beryl had been serious about merely reassigning him. "I accept my failure and all the consequences that come with it."

"Now, now, Zoicite, I'm not going to kill you. Not yet," she added chidingly. "As Jadeite thus far has had unparalleled success, he shall be relegated to gaining energy for our Great Leader, freeing you to focus on task, and one task only." She leaned forwards, gathering a crackling aura of darkness around her, madness burning in her eyes. "_Killing the Sailor Senshi."_

"Yes, your majesty," he agreed, raising his head. "I shall redeem my failure by bringing you the heads of the Sailor Senshi on a platter." He swallowed and decided to risk a joke. "Will silver be necessary, or will porcelain suffice?"

Surprisingly, both Beryl and Jadeite burst out laughing at this. "Oh, Zoicite, I knew there was a reason I recruited you," Beryl said with a sigh, before hardening again. "You have one week, Zoicite. Come back with their heads, or not at all. And do try to keep Jadeite's operation active, will you?"

"Yes, your majesty. Thank you, your majesty," said Zoicite formally, before both turned to look at Jadeite, who had let out an embarrassed cough and was now looking nervous.

"Speak, General Jadeite," Beryl commanded. _Like the mangy dog you are,_ Zoicite added silently.

"My Queen, I came in person today to deliver information, not just energy," he confessed. "The Sailor Sluts discovered and destroyed my operation earlier today, at the cost of four youma and my dimensional generator."

"…Excusable, in light of your success," Beryl decided, feeling Metaria stir beneath her throne. "I do, however, expect continued successes from you in the next operation."

"I intend to deliver, my queen. But that was not the important information," he continued. Beryl raised an eyebrow and sat up slightly straighter. "There were five youma working on the operation," he explained. It took a moment to click.

"Five, and only four losses? One survived, then?"

"Yes. My servant, the salacious Glurg, was badly wounded but survived, and ran away when he forced his enemy to retreat. The severity of his wounds prevented him from alerting me to the attack until the senshi had escaped, but rather than punish him I felt he might have important information to share on the methods of our enemy."

"Let him speak, then," Beryl decided. "Listen well, Zoicite, as this may be of use." With a gesture she conjured the youma in question, and it appeared before them in a whirl of shadow, and made a splat sound as it fell to the floor, squishing as it settled itself.

"What's this?" it gurgled.

"Show respect in the presence of your betters," Jadeite sneered. "Queen Beryl has called you to give testimony."

"Glurg sorry," it gurgled in fear, trying to grovel but unable to bow any lower. "Glurg's eyes not healed."

"Well, that can't be good," Beryl said endearingly. To the surprise of many of the watchers, dark power curled out from the throne with a gesture, and engulfed the youma in shadow. It cleared away to reveal that Glurg had not only been healed, but improved as well, as it had grown and changed slightly, solidifying. More than that, there was a sense of power exuding from it that caught the attention of other youma, two in particular.

"Well, I wasn't expecting _that_," Beryl admitted. "But it appears you were close to ascending already. Welcome to the ranks of the second generation of Shadow Warriors, Glurg."

"Finally, another person I can actually talk to," commented a blue, finned youma. Shadow Warrior Tethys. The other Shadow Warrior concurred.

"It will be nice to gain another comrade, I suppose. I look forward to," it licked its lips, "showing Glurg the ropes. It should be fun," said the patchwork patterned Shadow Warrior Castorand.

"Glur—I thank you, my queen," Glurg rasped. "I truly am not worthy."

"How many others can say they fought the senshi and still draw breath?" Beryl replied, amused. "I would remind those who were around at the time, that in the original revolution we only buried them under the weight of numbers. Even then it took the intervention of the Generals and myself to finish them. Now, tell us of their assault."

"Yes, your majesty," it agreed. "I primarily fought the man who threw roses, but I saw some of the other fights. To begin with, we never knew they were even there until they killed Arganus. They must have already have taken out Gallerus by then. I didn't see much of the other fights in the beginning, but I can speak of the male."

"Do so."

"He is very weak in combat, and in magic. Mostly, he sneaks around, but he is very fast, and cunning. He throws roses like darts, but they only hurt if they hit a delicate target." It grimaced. "Like my eyes or ankles," it added.

"I also saw him conjure a large flower like a staff, with a head he used to seal my mouth," Glurg revealed. Zoicite frowned as something tickled his memory.

"I identified the head as a sunflower, your majesty," Jadeite added. He gestured for the youma to continue.

"He can't hit very hard, but he moved so fast that I thought I had burned him alive, and in truth I had completely missed. That's when he got me, after I turned away to the other fights."

"How would you recommend fighting him, then?" Beryl asked. Glurg puffed up in pride.

"In the open, where he can't hide, or in a tight space, where he can't dodge or aim." It ran out of ideas after that, and deflated.

"What of the actual senshi?" Beryl asked again.

"The blue-haired one didn't fight at all, so maybe she isn't good at it?"

"She always was a supporter," Zoicite quipped. Beryl's power buzzed with annoyance, but she didn't punish him. _It isn't a good thing that he remembers more than the little about the past I gave him, but it's more important that the senshi die,_ she decided.

"The others?"

"The one with the funny hair was fighting Obsigullum, and had tossed him on his back. She didn't look too hurt. I guess she was good at dodging too?" Beryl nodded for him to continue. "Well, the other one, the tall one…that was interesting. She was fighting Avirex, and it looked like she killed him, but she was torn up really good. Covered in blood and on the ground, not moving. I think she had energy, so she wasn't dead, but I've never seen a dead senshi, so I don't know."

"Describe this Avirex to me," Beryl ordered Jadeite.

"Vaguely of human size, with feathers, wings, and a beak. And very sharp talons. Could harden its feathers for armor, or like knives, and throw them. Its shriek was like Shadow Warrior Bakane's, causing pain to those nearby."

"Claws and cutting, flight, and a range attack," Beryl summarized. "Zoicite, Jadeite, be certain to try to use youma with such characteristics in your operations, understood?"

"Of course, my queen," they both chorused. Zoicite shot Jadeite a dirty look, and decided to try one last trick.

"Your Majesty…" he trailed off.

"Yes, Zoicite?"

"As I am endeavoring to slay the senshi, perhaps the experience of a veteran would be of use to my mission? A Shadow Warrior would be a tremendous boost in firepower."

"Your Majesty," Jadeite interrupted, "please remember what happened to the last youma I loaned him. My troops are not unlimited, and I did just suffer a loss of four. A Shadow Warrior is too powerful a resource to be spared."

"Yes," Beryl agreed, "but Zoicite's need is greater in this case. Glurg, you are to report to him for the next week. Now all of you: begone! I wish to attempt to reach our Great Leader again." The cavern emptied.  
+++++++++++++++++

The three girls sitting at the counter in the Crown were very morose. Ami hadn't turned a page in her book since taking it out, Naru was barely interested in her milkshake, and Usagi didn't _have_ a milkshake, instead nursing a cup of water.

"Hey, are you alright?" asked Mamoru, slipping into the seat on Usagi's right. Ami mutely shook her head, not looking at him, Naru grunted, and Usagi shot him a look.

"Wonderful. The world is all sunshine and kittens and daisies. Haven't you heard about Haruka?" the blonde replied darkly.

"Yes, I have, which is why I'm here. I wanted to thank you on her behalf."

"_Thank_ us?"

"Yes," Mamoru said seriously. He leaned in. "I'm not sure if you realize it, but you saved her life, Oda—Usagi. She probably wouldn't have survived the fall if you weren't there immediately. I speak from personal experience when I say that immediate treatment is extraordinarily important, and as a med student I know. If you hadn't been there, she'd be dead. So as her friend, thank you."

"If we hadn't been there, she wouldn't have been hurt," Usagi muttered.

"Anyone can get hurt at almost any time. Someone gets in a car crash every two minutes. Haruka could just have easily fallen down a different set of stairs, or been hit by a car, or crashed in a race, or been knifed in an alley. Any of those could have been fatal, but it was your actions—all three of you—that kept this from being fatal. I'm studying to be a doctor and I had someone take a peek at her file. She's going to recover just fine, given time. That's because of you." _And because I'm going to pump her full of my magic every time I visit, but she doesn't have to know that._

"Thanks, Mamoru," Usagi said with a sigh. "I'm not sure I believe you, but it was nice you said it."

"Don't be so dismissive, Usagi," he said. "The fate of the world isn't on your shoulders." Usagi laughed bitterly, and he almost flinched at the sound.

"Of course not," she said bitterly, and hopped off the stool. "Thanks for the pep talk, but I think I want to head home now." Mamoru put a hand on her shoulder, motioning for the other two to wait as well.

"Actually, since Haruka's down, I was wondering if you wanted me to take over your training?"

"I'm not sure I could handle training right now," Ami said quietly. "Besides, I should get to cram school. I wouldn't want to slip."

"I should probably get home, too," Naru added. "Algebra won't do itself." Usagi frowned.

"I'll do it," she said finally. The others looked at her in surprise.

"I need to get my mind off Haruka, and homework won't help."

"You're going to be alone with the 'perv'?" Naru questioned, beginning to move toward the door. Naru smirked and Usagi grinned back. "Well, tell me all the sordid details of your tryst later, okay?" She winced hissed in pain when Usagi frowned and slugged her in the arm. "Hey, I'm not a punching bag!"

"Sorry," Usagi meeped, looking genuinely contrite. "That's why I need to hit something," she added.

"Good luck with that," Naru snapped, moving to the door. Ami followed, pausing only to loop an arm around her blonde friend for a quick hug, but not saying anything as she slipped out the door.

"So, do we do this now? Or do you want to finish that shake?" Mamoru asked.

"That's Naru's. I didn't order one," she replied, moving to the door. Mamoru shivered in fear.  
++++++++++++++

Ami had barely said a word at cram school, except when called upon to answer questions. She answered shortly, succinctly, and absent-mindedly, and people got the idea to stop calling on her. After class ended she was packing up her books to trudge home, when she felt a hand on her shoulder and flinched.

"Are you alright?" asked a boy with black hair and a kind smile. She paused.

"Why do you ask?"

"Normally you pay attention to everything like your life is going to depend on it. Today it looked like you were half-dead."

"I'm…upset," Ami finally conceded, holding her books in front of her protectively. "A friend of mine is in the hospital and I'm worried. Who did you say you were again?" Her voice had descended to a choked whisper, but she couldn't not ask, for some reason.

"Ryo Urawa. I hope your friend gets better," he said. Ami recognized his name as the number-two student in the class.

"Thank you. The doctors say she should be better in a week, but it was touch and go for a while."

"That sounds nice," he said, and smiled again. "I'd hate to steal your number one spot just because you were distracted," he added. "I'd like my first to _mean_ something, you know?"

Ami blushed furiously. "I…um…gah." Ryo looked at her a moment, and blushed a little too.

"I meant my getting first place," he hastily assured her.

"Oh. Right. Thanks," Ami whispered. She turned back around, but he touched her arm again. She jerked as though burned.

"Ami, do you mind if I call you that? Well, uh, would you like to go see a movie sometime?"

"L-like a d-d-date?" she squeaked. _Oh no, I can't handle this. Not now!_

"It doesn't have to be!" he said hurriedly. "It could just be two friends. Or academic rivals going out to celebrate, you know? I'd completely understand if someone amazing like you is already taken." She froze, feeling as though she were breaking into hives, and steeled herself.

"M-m-m-mu-mu-maybe," she choked out, and bolted for the door.  
++++++++++++++

Naru lay on her bed, face down, thinking dark thoughts. Things had seemed almost fun in the beginning, when she'd been fighting alongside Usagi alone, and had gotten to hurt Zoicite with a sandbag. Sure, she'd known she was in danger, and she'd talked about the possibility of dying at Haruka's introduction, but this was the first time it had really sunk in.

_How long can I keep doing this? For that matter, how much am I doing now? I wasn't in the last fight, and at the stadium I got drained dry. Ami could have handled that youma without me, no problem. Is there a reason for me to be here anymore?_

She swung off her bed and grabbed a random book off her shelf. She stared at it for several seconds before realizing it was a manga—Usagi had given her a set of Evangelion manga for her last birthday.

"_Because Eva is awesome!"_ she'd said. When Naru wondered how her upbeat friend could like something that was supposed to be so dark and depressing, Usagi had replied, _"No matter how bad my test scores, or how often I trip over my own feet, I can always be glad that I'm not piloting a giant robot against alien monsters."_

_That's accurate up until the last word,_ Naru thought with what was almost a smile. She opened to a random page, deciding to just jump in _en medias res_ and figure it out as she went along. It would distract her, if nothing else.

_"An unfamiliar ceiling"? As good a beginning as any.  
_+++++++++++++++

Usagi faced off against Mamoru in an isolated clearing in the park. He'd seen she had some aggression to vent and was going to let her with a sparring match. He just hoped he didn't get bruised too badly. Unfortunately, looking at Usagi dashed those hopes—her fists were balled tight, her face bore a scowl, and she couldn't stay still.

"Begin!" The petite blonde exploded into a blur of limbs and pain. Almost seven minutes later he called an end to the match.

Thankfully, Usagi listened and backed off. Mamoru assessed himself. His arms hurt a lot from what moves he'd had to block, his left shin was aching where she'd kicked him, and his ribs would be sporting two fist-sized bruises for a few days, with another three on his stomach. _Well, they would if I didn't have some healing magic to help me out,_ he corrected. Like his flower conjuring, it was something he was still figuring out to do to an extent, but it was undeniably useful.

A little too useful, even, as he had to actively pull it back in since Usagi was around. Sparkling like a Cullens was not something he wanted to have to explain. _But I gave pretty good, too, _he consoled himself.

Usagi was heavily panting, having not slowed down at all for the entire spar. She was sweating, and her knuckles were bruised, to say the very least. Mamoru had mostly avoided hitting her directly. Even so, he'd tripped her a few times, thrown her twice, and put her in three different holds to escape from. She was also perking back up a little even as he watched her, though, and she seemed radiant in the sunlight. _Like a goddess,_ he thought, before mentally slapping himself.

"Feel better?" he asked, trying to steer his thoughts in a more innocent direction. She nodded and sat, and he tried desperately not to look at how far her skirt had ridden up, turning his head slightly.

"Yeah, thanks," she said. "I think I needed that."

"I thought so, Odango," he said with a grin. She stuck her tongue out at him, and then fell backwards to sprawl out across the grass. Mamoru sat down next to a tree, pulling his jacket back on. "Aren't you cold?"

"Hm? No, not really," she replied lazily.

"Are you sure? I feel like I can almost see my breath. I mean, we've had a warm fall so far, but it will be winter pretty soon." Usagi remembered when Ami had explained their armor and smirked. _Protection from weather? Another thing that stays with us in normal form, I guess_. Mamoru wondered why she smiled, but didn't ask.

"No, but I'm hungry. Buy me a milkshake?"

"No junk for you, Odango Atama. There's a pretty good noodle stand that way and across the street, though."

"Nah, I'm heading back to the Crown," she decided, sitting up. Then her stomach gurgled and she blushed. "Fine, you win, noodles it is," she conceded. Mamoru wasn't sure if she was talking to him or her stomach, and decided he didn't care.

"Come on," he said as she grabbed her bag. She managed to keep up with his pace, and passed him once the stand came into view, claiming a seat at the counter. Mamoru chose the one next to her and they both ordered.

"I know this is a touchy subject," he began, "but I feel I have to ask. How _did_ Haruka end up in the hospital? I heard that she fell down the steps at some shrine, but there has to be more than that." _Especially since it's odd that Haruka would be picked up so close to where Sailor Uranus was dropped off, and with similar injuries. I might be overthinking things, but…_

"…Hikawa shrine has this big bunch of stone stairs you climb to get in. Haruka was near the top and fell to the bottom, okay?" Usagi said darkly, hoping he'd drop the subject. He didn't.

"Haruka's got pretty good balance, it doesn't seem like she'd just trip over her own two feet like you do," Mamoru pressed. _If Haruka's a senshi, it would be too important for me to not try and find out._

Usagi was worried about where the talk was going, but remembered the lie she'd told her father and seized the opening he'd given her. She sniffed a little, turned her face away to hide her eyes behind her bangs, and faked a hiccup. Mamoru leaned in and she shoved him away with her shoulder.

"It's my fault, okay?" she whispered. Mamoru blinked. _What? I wasn't expecting this._

"What?" he asked.

"I SAID IT'S MY FAULT!" Usagi shrieked. Then she buried her face in her hands faked a sob. Mamoru panicked. _Oh crud, this is bad!_

"Ah, um, here! It's okay, I'm sure it's not that bad," he hastily assured her, fumbling through his pockets and handing her a handkerchief. Usagi took it and pretended to wipe at her eyes, not wanting to risk jerk-germ contamination. Then she blew her nose, just to be realistic and get under his skin, before she handed the cloth back and pretended to calm down.

"I was going up ahead of her, and she fell when I tripped and she tried to catch me." Mamoru winced, wishing he hadn't followed his hunch. He'd not only been completely wrong, but he'd torn open a nasty emotional scab.

"I don't blame you for what happened, and I'm sure Haruka won't either when she wakes up," he assured her. "She should be awake in less than a week," he added, _especially with me sneaking her some magic every time I visit. The Princess assured me that it wouldn't hurt anyone, just heal, so I may as well abuse it as much as I can._ Little did he know that Usagi's thoughts, concerning her friend's senshi healing magic, were taking a similar path. She sighed.

"Well, let's eat," she said, changing the subject as their bowls arrived, and immediately dug in.  
++++++++++++++++++

Ami opened her apartment door to find something unexpected—the noise of the television.

"Mom?" she asked, seeing her main parent home at a decent hour for once. The television clicked off just as a police officer was saying something—_Did he mention the senshi?_—and Saeko Mizuno turned to face her daughter with a smile.

"Hello, Ami. I actually have some free time today, and I wondered how you wanted to spend it." The younger bluenette smiled: this was just what she needed after a horrible day.

"Dinner and a movie on the couch sounds nice. Or maybe a video game."

"Take out, or shall I make something? I think we have the ingredients for gyudon, and maybe some tempura."

"That sounds wonderful."

"I'll get right on it," said her mother, moving to their kitchen. She paused as Ami followed her.

"Could you show me how? I'd like to know the recipe myself, and this is one thing books don't always help with," Ami requested, speaking a truth that her friends would never believe she'd say. _I can just imagine. Usagi would rant about the end of the world, and Naru would accuse me of blaspheming against myself, and Haruka…_ Her thoughts trailed off as the reason for her foul mood re-entered her mind.

"Ami? Are you alright?" She jerked out of her mind to see her mother looking concerned at her. "Is something the matter?" Ami took a deep breath and decided to let it out.

"A friend of mine is in the hospital," she admitted. "They say she'll recover completely, but…can we not talk about this now? I'd rather have dinner first."

"Dinner it is," Saeko agreed. She felt she did well in hiding her joy. Her reclusive daughter had retreated even deeper into her shell after the abuse she'd suffered at that hellish boarding school, and Saeko was worried she would stay there. Worse, she feared that she was somehow neglecting her daughter—given how little she was home at reasonable hours—and that she was exacerbating the issue. That her daughter was making friends had her overjoyed and hopeful.

"Alright, now that we have all the ingredients, first…"

The two spent a while immersing themselves in the simple task of cooking. Ami idly considered how she would answer her mother's questions, and her mother considered what she would ask. Finally they sat down at the table with their plates and began to eat.

"Mmm. I think this turned out well," Ami said.

"I agree. Now, tell me about your friends. I'm rather ashamed to admit this," her gentle voice continued, "but I didn't know that you had any close friends in the city. Who are they? When did you meet them? What are they like? Are any of them cute boys you'll be bringing home soon?"

"M-mother," Ami stuttered out, scandalized, and remembering Ryo. _He was nice enough, but…_ "No! They're girls, although I didn't always know that…" Her voice trailed off, turning once again to unwelcome thoughts. Red blood, the shredded white cloth of a fuku, and black sand.

"Oh?" Her mother smelled blood in the water. "Didn't know she was a girl? Is this someone you met online?" _I hope she's being safe, if so. There are all kinds of nasty predators on the web, these days._

"No. Haruka was the one tutoring me in martial arts." Her mother vaguely remembered this mentioned in passing some time back, but hadn't raised any disagreements since it got her daughter out and about. If she'd been less sleep deprived at the time she'd have asked for more details, but as they say, hindsight is 20-20.

"What's she like? Why did you think she was male?"

"She races, and it's easier to get backers if people thinks she's a male. The fact that it lets her flirt with girls is just a bonus."

"Oh. I see. Well…I'm glad that her orientation hasn't affected your friendship. She must be quite a bit older than you, though, if she races. Weren't there other friends you were taking lessons with?"

"Yes, Haruka is in her first year of college. I'm taking lessons with two girls named Usagi and Naru."

"How did you meet them?"

"We have the same class in school. Usagi literally ran me over my first day, and showed me around to make up for it. Naru is her best friend, although she has a lot of other acquaintances."

"Ran you over?"

"She has a habit of being late to homeroom more often than not, and she runs to school almost every morning. If she's still late, she'll also run in school, and she slammed into me when she came around a blind corner."

"That sounds painful. What is she like, aside from being constantly late?" Ami took a moment to think.

"Bright, cheerful, kind, and forceful. Or perhaps vast is a more accurate term."

"Vast? I don't think she'd be obese, considering her running. What do you mean?"

"Not obese. Quite the opposite. She's shorter than me and in much better shape than most people would think, though there is a little fat on her."

"Nothing wrong with that. Weight is a problem, but in my experience teenage girls tend to blow it far out of proportion."

"Yes, and she works out a surprising amount, even if she complains. Gym is one of the only classes she consistently scores well in, she says. I meant that…she has a vast personality."

"Not an adjective and noun combination I would expect."

"She's sort of like a thermostat, I suppose. She's small, but she affects the entire room. Everyone cheers up when she's happy, and gets morose when she's sad, and frightened when she's upset."

"Sort of a queen bee, then?"

"Not at all! Well, yes, in a way, but not on purpose." Ami couldn't think of a good way to describe her friend. "I genuinely believe she doesn't realize what an effect she has on people, but she would be the queen bee if she wanted to. She just doesn't want to, if the thought has ever even crossed her mind." Ami was quiet for a moment, and thought of how to explain.

"Ami?"

"You'd normally expect that the smart, geeky students would be picked on by the beauty queens and jocks, correct? That's the high school stereotype. I think it happens to some small extent, but when Usagi gets involved in something, everyone gravitates over, even if it seems really stupid. Once she got involved in a debate over lunch about what type of noodles were best, and there were at least twenty people lobbying opinions in a few minutes, including a few of the popular upperclassmen."

"Sounds like quite the event."

"It was. The main academic rival I have is a boy named Umino, who is _the_ stereotypical nerd, and bait for pretty much every bully in school, you'd think. He's also Usagi's second oldest friend, after Naru. And not _one_ person will bother him, aside from Naru, or Usagi herself when he takes his crush a little too far."

"They're afraid of upsetting her?"

"…Possibly on some level. I know _I_ don't like to see her angry, at least. But I don't think picking on him has ever really crossed anyone's mind, even. And take me. In the bathroom two upperclassmen recognized me as 'that nerdy girl Usagi hangs out with.' Their exact words. I expected to be teased a little, but it didn't happen."

_When was the last time I saw Ami smile like that?_ Saeko wondered.

"They actually started up a friendly conversation with, and it ended with one of them offering to help me with my make-up, since, they said, 'it's practically a crime not to highlight your eyes, and if you treated your hair right you could get any guy in the school.' Compared to Enkai, I pinched myself twice just to make sure it was real."

"She sounds like quite the friend," Saeko said after a long pause while she digested the information. That her daughter was doing so much better than the pit she'd been in before was a weight lifted from her shoulders. "And this Naru girl you mentioned?"

"Naru is Usagi's oldest friend, and if Usagi is the sky, then she's the ground. Sort of. It's _incredibly_ difficult to qualify people like this, and them especially. But Naru is dependable, loyal, and a wellspring of common sense. Unlike Usagi she takes her studies fairly seriously, and she is involved in some extracurricular activities—piano lessons, some cooking I believe, and she may have said something about a sewing class, once."

"Rather traditional, but more active than most people."

"I suppose. She keeps people on track and it's very hard to rattle or surprise her, and she's respectably clever. She's very good at reading body language, too, and I once saw her jump into the middle of a conversation to comment on one of the girls having a crush. Sakura—that was her name—admitted and asked how Naru knew, and she said it was the way Sakura looked whenever Takeshi—the boy in question—was mentioned."

"How she looked?"

"Naru said that her eyes and smile would change slightly, and she'd hold herself differently. No one else had noticed, and Naru figured it out in minutes. The only time I've seen her bad at body language is when she didn't get the hint that I didn't want to talk about my old school, and Usagi had to spell it out for her."

'They both sound like wonderful people. Am I going to get the chance to meet them sometime?"

"I hope so. We had one sleepover at Naru's house, so having one here on a weekend wouldn't be a stretch."

"Well, I'm glad you've found such good friends, Ami. They're welcome here any time. Juuban sounds like quite the turnaround from that hell-hole." Ami's lips twitched at her mother's name for Enkai Academy. Not that she disagreed, but she wouldn't say it out loud.

"It really is a turnaround, mom. It really is." _And I am so glad you have no idea how right you are. I may in more danger now, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.  
++++++++++++++++++_

That Friday dawned bright and clear, but it was overcast for three girls and a ca—mau! I mean mau! Honestly, Luna! Please stop scratching me! Argh! Not the face!

"Alright, girls, this is how things stand," Luna said, pacing around Naru's room. "Uranus will be out of commission for how long, Mercury?" Ami pulled out her computer, having visited Haruka earlier that day, and examined the readings.

"A week at the outset, but no longer, and likely shorter," she concluded. "Haruka will awaken within the next thirty-six hours, according to my calculations. Ordinarily, even with her magic and a window in the room, we would expect it to take two or three days longer for her to heal than is projected. However, traces of Tuxedo Kamen's magic still remain and are speeding her recovery."

"Yes! My hero comes through for me again!" Usagi cheered

"Well…I guess he isn't all bad after all," Luna admitted.

"There is a more serious note, however," Ami added. "Given the magical remnants, there is the possibility that Haruka will be up and about in as little as four or five days. But this would only be if she continues receiving doses of Tuxedo Kamen's healing magic." She looked up with a serious gaze, waiting for responses.

"I'm sorry Mercury," Luna said, "but if you are suggesting we show that man to Uranus while she is undisguised, I can't agree. It is still too large a security risk. We can survive a week with one senshi less."

"No, Luna, that isn't the problem. According to the levels of magic remaining in her system, the speed at which those levels have decreased, and the original amount I recorded him pouring into her I have realized a disturbing possibility. Haruka has almost certainly received additional doses of magic from Tuxedo Kamen _since entering the hospital_." She let this sink in.

"You mean that he has visited her since she was hospitalized and added more magic!?" Luna yeowled, her fur puffing up in shock. "He's discovered her identity? He could be doing anything to her!"

"Hey!" Usagi yelled. "I still say he's on our side! He wouldn't hurt Haruka, or he'd have hurt me a long time ago!"

"Also," Ami added, "I scanned him briefly and Haruka thoroughly, and the magic was only used for healing."

"Still," Luna said brusquely, "the fact that an unknown knows Uranus' identity is not at all good."

"An unknown?" Usagi countered. "We may not know who he is, but we'd take any chance we could to find out, wouldn't you say? So why wouldn't he do the same? He's been helping us and not knowing who we are. _We're_ unknown to him! Maybe he has family that would be in danger if his identity was revealed, same as us."

"Guys!" Naru yelled, getting their attention. They looked at her. "If he knows who Haruka is, he still doesn't know about the rest of us. But if he's been healing her then he's been visiting her. Could you check the records or the security cameras and see who visited Haruka?"

"I already did," Ami agreed. "No luck. Aside from us, the only people who visited her are Haruka's family and Mamoru. I confirmed this with both the cameras and the guest book, and checked to see if the window had been used."

"Are you certain it was really her family visiting?" Luna inquired.

"They were a group of three: one man, one woman, one younger brother. Their names matched the census records for the Tennou family, as well."

"So we've hit a dead end."

"I hope so," Usagi said glumly, looking odd. The others sent her questioning looks. "Didn't some guy say, 'Whenever you have eliminated the impossible, whatever is left, no matter how improbable, must be true'? We know that he hasn't used the window, so maybe Tuxedo Kamen is Mamoru." Her mouth twisted in distaste, but the idea wasn't _completely_ abhorrent, just a bit odd. _It wouldn't be the end of the world if he was, I guess. Still…_

"That possibility strikes me as highly unlikely," Ami said, "if for no other reason than my inability to imagine him giving a speech the way Tuxedo Kamen does. Also, with magic involved, can we say for certain that we have eliminated all other options? He may have some form of teleportation, for instance."

"Maybe he can feed her magic from a distance?" Naru suggested. "If he sends it after the magic already in her through some connection or something, then he might not even need to know where she is." Everyone looked at Luna.

"More possible than us actually happening to know Tuxedo Kamen out of all the possible men in the city," the feline admitted. "But now we have something else to discuss. Tomorrow is the grand opening of a building advertising itself as the Sinful Sweets Shop."

"Mmm…Does it sell chocolate?"

"More importantly, is it a Dark Kingdom plot?"

"I couldn't smell a youma," Luna admitted, "but two days ago on my scouting path the building was for sale and derelict, which reeks of magical preparation. I'd like one of you to drop by on patrol tonight, and tomorrow we can investigate full force."

"I'll take your turn patrolling, Usagi," Ami volunteered. "My visor is better suited for this anyway."

"And we wouldn't want you to get distracted by the merchandise," Naru added with a teasing grin. Usagi had practically been drooling at the word sweets.

"Hey!" Usagi wiped the drool from her face. "It is perfectly normal to be distracted by chocolate. It is a sacred treat for young and old alike to indulge in, and I will not tolerate its use for the purpose of evil! In the name of the Moon, I will punish them!" Everyone burst out laughing.  
+++++++++++++++++

For those of you who caught Usagi's name mistake in the beginning, that was intentional. It won't tip Mamoru off because he wasn't paying attention to her, but it would have if he had been. Usagi and the others are still imperfect, and can make mistakes that screw things up. They're just also lucky that the author likes them, so not _everything_ is going to go wrong.

Also, the same way the Dark Kingdom psyched themselves out in the beginning, the heroes are now being too smart for their own good. Funny, isn't it?

Coming up next: Zoicite's attempt, Haruka's still in the hospital, Jadeite throws flowers, and Usagi suffers a crisis of faith.


	10. Beginning with a Bang

Hello again everyone. If you thought cannon had gone off the rails before, you ain't seen nothing yet. And yet...the more things change, the more they stay the same, I find.

I do not own Sailor Moon.  
++++++++++++++++

Zoicite sat back in the padded office chair and smiled. It had taken work to find the right target and incapacitate him silently, but all the puzzle pieces were beginning to fall together. He'd lost twelve of the eighteen youma originally left of his command, once numbering in the hundreds, but he could put the six remaining to good use.

There were two ways a youma could be raised above the ordinary masses. First it could naturally develop and evolve over time, eventually becoming a Shadow Warrior. Second, it could be empowered directly by an external agent, which could also repurpose it for the agent's needs. Queen Beryl's Doom & Gloom Girls were the most prominent examples of such 'empowered youma'.

It would be costly in the long run, both on his power and his sanity, but he had empowered each of his remaining youma solely for fighting, making them smarter and stronger by giving them a piece of his own power and mind. Since he no longer was tasked with energy, he could allow their draining abilities to atrophy, turning them into killing machines.

And of course, Jadeite's 'veteran' was on hand as a meat-shield for if the senshi did show up. Losing a Shadow Warrior could get him in deep trouble, but he had nothing to lose, and even if he failed he could weaken Jadeite's chances by depriving his rival of such an asset.

With his current plan, though, he wouldn't even have to get his hands dirty. A little hypnosis, a few disguises, a bit of theft, and the problems could easily take care of each other. Since he'd scouted out the location of Jadeite's new trick, he'd just wait for the senshi to strike and snap victory from both of his enemies.

He smirked and eyed the waste of flesh tied up in the corner, debating if he needed to interrogate for more information. He decided it could wait. Idly, Zoicite conjured a small cloud of flower petals, and enjoyed the aroma. It was an ability he'd grown to favor from back when they had served Endymion. Back before Queen Beryl had shown them how blind they were and given them true power.

Smiling, Zoicite thumbed through a few papers, picked up the phone, and began the next stage of preparations.  
++++++++++++++++++++

Naru looked around the bustling shop as children and adults alike swarmed around, filling bags with candy and grabbing bars and boxes of chocolate. She could feel the bustling atmosphere trying to infect her, filling her with cheer and excitement, and to an extent it worked. It was offset, however, by the sickening sense of deja-vu she felt. This was far too similar to the night her mother's store was targeted. Except…

Except it wasn't the same. There was the same sense of mania filling her, but she saw people swarming the cash registers and leaving with their purchases, and no one appeared to even be yawning, much less collapsing from energy drain.

Glancing around, she decided to go for it. It took about five minutes to fill a bag and pay out, and it was only Usagi, catching her as she walked outside and dragging her down the street and into an alley, that kept her from opening the bag and eating a treat she realized. This, naturally, was the first thing she reported.

"I wouldn't be surprised if there were some form of compulsion on the door—or the candy itself—to make people want to eat," Luna concluded. "Ami? What is your visor telling you?"

"This is a remarkably insidious plot," Ami replied, looking up from the candy. "Prior to now a youma has been needed to be present to drain energy. Our new general has copied their draining magic onto the candy, which is genuine, by the way, and looped a feeding pattern back to a pre-determined anchor."

"In small words, Ami? Pleeeease," Usagi begged.

"He took a youma, which can drain energy. Then he cast a spell that let the candy drain energy and feed it back to the youma. However, I believe the youma needs to remain at an anchor point to receive the energy, or else it will flow back to the victim." Ami shook her head. "Worst of all, the candy would drain energy from inside the victim's body."

"Why's that bad?"

"We have no way to identify who is being drained until they collapse, and no way to stop the drain without either destroying the youma, or making them vomit up the candy. And because he uses candy, the sugar rush would delay any signs of the drain for some time. Had Luna not found this when she did, it might have been days or weeks before we caught on to it."

"Scary thought," Usagi muttered. "So what do we do? How do we get those people out of there?"

"We could wait until it closes," Naru suggested.

"And how much energy would they already have?" Usagi replied archly. Naru shrugged.

"The Sailor Senshi have something of a reputation in the news by now," Ami pointed out.

"We do?" Usagi asked.

"We get a brief mention quite often, and much more than that after each operation we stop," Ami confirmed. "There is an abundance of conspiracy theories concerning us, ranging from mutants, to government super soldiers, to aliens."

"Even a stopped clock is right twice a day," Naru snarked, grinning at the last one.

"Oh dear," Luna sighed. "I hadn't considered that. This all is much different from the Silver Millennium."

"My point," Ami continued, "Is that people know the senshi, and trust us more often than not. Why not simply walk through the door and ask everyone to evacuate?" That got a moment of silence.

"It worked with Ms. Shihoin," Usagi said, nodding. "Should we try it Luna?"

"There's the risk that the Dark Kingdom may try to take a hostage," Luna warned, and then wilted. "Then again, we take that risk in every operation. I can't really disapprove, I suppose."

"What should I do?" asked Naru.

"Don't fight with the disguise pen," Luna insisted before anyone else could speak. "We can't risk you getting hurt, Naru. Stay outside, and help herd people away from the store." Naru frowned.

"Can't I help in other ways?"

"Jadeite is working differently than Zoicite, and will have taken precautions against interference by now. One wrong move, and you will _die_, young lady. We cannot risk that unless we are absolutely desperate," Luna insisted, and Naru nodded reluctantly. "All right. Let's begin."

"Moon Power: Make Up!"

"Mercury Power: Make Up!"  
+++++++++++++++++

"Excuse me, everyone!" Sailor Moon shouted, while stepping into the store and giving everyone a good look at the city's newest heroine. "Yes, I'm real, and no, no autographs," she joked.

"We believe there is a youma in the area," Sailor Mercury said calmly. "Please evacuate the building, and if we're wrong you may return in ten minutes or le—"

"Dammit!" Jadeite snarled from one of the cash registers, and threw a purple blast at Moon. Usagi would have dodged, but there was a mother and child behind her, so she crossed her arms and took the hit, angling to fly past them and hit the wall, which she did. _That burns like hell! I think he blew a hole in my gloves, too. Ow…_

"Aqua Bubble Burst!" Ami yelled, throwing a blast of water at Jadeite as the room erupted into panic. "Mercury Spray Shroud!" Judging by the lack of crashing into things, she had successfully made it so that everyone except Jadeite—and presumably people outside—could see through it. Unfortunately, unclouding it for so many people taxed her abilities, and it would dissipate in seconds.

"Everyone! This way!" Naru yelled from the door, while Luna streaked inside to try and help. Jadeite couldn't see but neither could Luna, Ami realized, while she couldn't attack him without dissipating the fog. She couldn't even talk, the spell was straining her so much. But Usagi was getting up. Then Ami felt a tug in her mind that meant, she somehow knew, that Usagi couldn't see either. _I really messed us up. _Jadeite stomped loudly on the floor.

"Now!" He yelled. "Hurry up!"

"Evil villain!" Usagi cried. _No, please, don't make yourself a target so you know where to attack, just take cover and wait,_ Ami thought anxiously. "Candy is a treat well-loved by all. Indulging one's sweet tooth is how we reward ourselves for hard work and effort. I will not stand to see it corrupted. In the name of the moon," Luna ran less than two feet away from Jadeite, who had zeroed in on Usagi but was only looking impatient. _Almost, only a few people left. Hurry up! Do you have a death wish to hang around this long?_ "I will punish you!" Usagi took a step forward, not hearing Ami's thoughts, and Jadeite smirked.

*CRACK*

"Huh!" Usagi yelped. Two red, rubbery _tentacles_ had smashed up through the floorboards and grabbed Sailor Moon's ankles. Ami was so shocked that she dropped the fog.

"Going down," said a sinister voice from below, before Usagi was ripped through the floor with a shrill scream.

"Moon!" Ami yelled, and Jadeite leaped into action.

"Don't move, Mercury," he said with a chuckle. He'd grabbed a teenage girl Ami vaguely recognized as going to her school, but in a different class, and was holding glowing fingers to her throat like a knife. "Fold your hands behind your back, lace your fingers, and turn around. Otherwise I squash an insect." Ami did so bitterly, shooting a look to Luna, who had hidden out of Jadeite's sight. Luna's moon glowed, and she sent Ami a telepathic message.

_Bide for time. I need to build up power._

"You do realize," Ami said, hoping to draw him into a distracting conversation, "that this is only a stalemate?"

"A stalemate?" Jadeite laughed. His prisoner whimpered. "I hold all the cards here Mercury. You can't think your way out of this no matter how stellar your strategies are. Or have you forgotten that I could beat you half the time when we played Jenza? Our last score was Jadeite—35, and you—32." Ami was glad her back was turned, as shock flashed across her face and her mind reeled. _He knows me? His diction and tone indicate that he had some history of friendship or rivalry with my previous incarnation. Think, Ami, think! Luna once mentioned that the Generals and the Senshi had some ties, but I hadn't expected this! We appear to have some rivalry, so perhaps I can use this to stall._

"I had forgotten," she confessed with a dramatic sigh. When she bent her head slightly, she reset her visor's scanning protocols with a few blinks, facial movements, and thoughts. "I dislike to think of those times. But surely you can't even begin to consider this a win, considering how much the decks were stacked in your favor. You cheated." Jadeite laughed.

"Trying to play off my psychology? Really? You're not going to manipulate me into letting her go. But since you like rehashing old times so much," Ami smiled, realizing she'd found a hook. _Hurry, Luna!_ "You can explain why this is a draw."

"It really is quite simple," she said with a quiet smile. "Taking a hostage only works if you take more than one. As things stand, we can stay here forever. If I move first, you kill the hostage, which I don't want. If you move first and kill the hostage then there is nothing to stop me from breaking you into many, tiny pieces, which you don't want." Her visor had deciphered what it was looking at. There was one youma in the basement fighting Usagi, which she had x-rayed when it flitted into view for an instant, and one in the back room in the middle of a complex magical pattern, absorbing motes of life energy. And…was or wasn't there a youma upstairs? There were faint traces but she couldn't be certain. "Thus, neither of us will move, creating a stalemate."

"Oh really," Jadeite drawled. "Well, I—augh!" He let out a strangled cry as something made a thumping sound, and Ami caught a flash of Luna's magic in her visor.

"Mercury Spray Shroud!" she yelled, whirling around to catch Jadeite staggering to the ground under a yellow glow as Naru- _how did she get here?_- dragged their schoolmate out the door. Moreover, Tuxedo Kamen was standing over Jadeite, having bashed him with his cane. "Aqua Bubble Burst!" She spammed the spell several more times, hoping to freeze Jadeite solid, but he had called up dark power that was beginning to fight it off.

"Sailor Moon's down there," Kamen said to Ami, looking at the hole, and it wasn't a question. Before she could ask for help he jumped down the hole after her.

"Why couldn't I have an actual attack spell?" the blue senshi mumbled to herself. "Aqua Bubble Burst!" Repeating that umpteen times was getting tiresome, and Luna's glowing crescent and quivering signified she was still doing her magic, as well. _I really hope Haruka gets back in action soon._ She faintly heard sirens in the distance. Then Luna's magic ran out.

"_Weak f__ools_!" Jadeite screamed as he summoned a wave of power that shattered her ice, and then threw a bolt at her. The impact hit before she could react and threw her across the room. She slammed into the wall with a thud, feeling as though she'd been punched in the stomach, but rolled to her feet immediately. The room swam as her body caught up with her and felt the impact from hitting the wall, but she stayed standing.

"Mercury Aqua—" Jadeite desperately swiped an arm at her, and something stinging hit and bounced off her shoulder, drawing blood. And then Sailor Moon erupted out of the door to the back room, followed closely by Kamen.

"Moon Tiara Magic!" she finished chanting as she hit the ground, and Jadeite teleported away from the attack. There was a moment while everyone breathed. Surprisingly, Tuxedo Kamen broke the silence.

"Those aren't mine," he said bluntly and pointed. Ami looked and saw what Jadeite had thrown at her—yellow flowers, more like dandelions than roses, traced through with veins of black.

"He—Jadeite I think—threw them at me," she explained. _Like Zoicite's flower petals, perhaps? Uasgi's theory that Tuxedo Kamen is a traitor from the Dark Kingdom looks more and more probable._ Tuxedo Kamen frowned, and vanished in a swirl of cape before another word could be said.

"I'll try to follow him," Luna called, and followed him into the back room. Ami turned to Usagi.

"I'm surprised you didn't say anything." Usagi's fondness and faith in Tuxedo Kamen was no weaker than it had been when they began.

"I just spent ten minutes fighting a demon bee and a _tentacle monster,_" Usagi growled. "I'm not in the best of moods, even if dusting the furry guy back there was easy." Ami noted that Usagi was splattered with a shiny slime, and small wounds.

"There were two youma in the basement?" Usagi nodded. _That might explain the different readings,_ Ami thought, remembering the question of a youma upstairs, and then saw something more important. "The authorities are outside, and they don't look happy." Usagi turned to look at the several police cars in the street and shot Ami a haggard look.

"Let's go out the back door, please," she begged.

"Come out with your hands up," called one of the cops over a megaphone.

"That would be a bad idea, I think," Ami said. "Let's try to clear this up and we can take to the roofs if things go sour."

"Fine," Usagi said, and dragged her feet towards the door. There was a muttering when they stepped outside.

"I said with your hands up," the cop with the megaphone repeated uncertainly. Seeing that these really were two adolescent—YOUNG adolescent—girls was making him question the situation. Admittedly, he couldn't remember their faces when he was looking right at them, which was rather intimidating, _and_ they were supposedly capable of throwing around some sort of nasty magic attack, but they just didn't look threatening. Especially with how bedraggled the blond looking one was. Then a humming buzz came from the blonde's direction.

"Look," she said, her gems reverberating her voice across the block, and causing gasps from the people the barricade was unsuccessfully trying to keep away. "I have just spent the last ten minutes fighting a tentacle monster. Bear in mind that I am a teenaged magical girl in a short skirt. Got it? I saved the people, I dusted the monster, and now I want to go home, take a long, hot shower, with plenty of soap, and spend the rest of the day curled up under the covers with a mug of cocoa. Maybe then, _just maybe,_ I won't cry myself to sleep tonight, and will actually _get_ some sleep, without waking up from nightmares three times, wanting to vomit. If you really want to talk to me, I can swing by the police station tomorrow. It's not like _I_ don't know how to find _you,_ you know? But today? I'm in a bad place. Please, don't push me." The cop raised the megaphone again.

"I—" and a crack split the air, just before a police car exploded into green flame. Usagi reeled back in shock, and her right shoulder went numb. _What! What happened to the car? To my arm!_ Ami twisted and ran to catch her as she fell. Another crack was heard over people screaming, and Ami stumbled as something slammed into her cheekbone like a fist, hitting the ground herself.

"They're attacking!" one of the cops yelled, just as a burst of green fire erupted on the ground. A third crack, and Ami's visor replayed it in slow motion. A bullet.

"They're shooting at us," she hissed at Usagi, disbelieving. They both stumbled back toward the candy store, and now Ami's visor caught something else. "There's a youma on the roof!" she yelled, and another blast of green fire erupted in the middle of a group of police officers. _I knew I shouldn't have discounted those readings!_ Ami and Usagi ran into the alley and bounced off the walls and onto the roof. The youma, resembling a human-iguana hybrid with red eyes, grinned at them. Then it disappeared in a plume of fire.

"Teleportation?"

"Run for it!" Usagi yelped and grabbed Ami as another bullet ricocheted inches away. They ran.  
++++++++++++++++++

"Thankfully it's Friday. I couldn't handle another day of school tomorrow." The fact that _Ami_ said this should have been heralded by ominous thunder, flying pork products, and snowball-fighting devils. Instead it got two shocked looks from a redhead and a black mau.

"What happened?" Luna asked Ami as the team recouped in her apartment. Usagi had almost literally kicked Luna out of the way on the way to Ami's shower, and had pulled rank to make Ami explain. _Considering her mood, though,_ Ami thought to herself, _I'm not sure I could sit here and explain it without soiling myself in terror if Usagi were here. She's as frightening as any youma sometimes, and I really can't blame her for it. Tentacles, ugh._ Ami then looked back at the astonished Luna and Naru.

"I think someone set a trap for us, but I don't know how deep it goes," she said finally.

"Details, details," Naru urged, eyes flitting towards the bathroom Usagi occupied every few seconds. _The last time I saw her this upset was when someone tried bullying Shingo at school. What on earth…?_ "I was there for most of it, but I don't really know what happened."

"When we finished the fight and had caught our breaths, I noticed several police cars, maybe as many as seven. They were parked in the street outside, similar to a barricade, and a number of police were arrayed behind them while others tried to keep civilians away with little success. Usagi suggested going out the back door, but one of them used a mega phone and asked us to come out."

"You mean 'us' the senshi?"

"Yes."

"With your hands up?" Naru asked, "Because I think I heard that part."

"Yes, actually. I felt that it would be a bad idea to antagonize law enforcement, since it _is_ their job to help people, and we might manage to form the beginnings of an alliance. Usagi was too tired to argue and went outside. The officer asked us again to put our hands up, and I was going to comply and open a dialogue, but Usagi beat me to it. She activated her gems and broadcast a message stating exactly what had just happened, and how she felt about it. She asked if we senshi could stop by and talk to the police tomorrow. Mostly, they looked sympathetic, I believe."

"Looked sympathetic to what happened?" Naru asked. "The crowd was definitely on your side. Some people in the audience beside me were commenting that it was a crime to treat you girls—heroines, they were calling you—like felons. A reporter was nearby too, but I wasn't paying attention to her. Then the car exploded! _So what happened?_"

"Like I said, someone set a trap. Given our discussion, I believe that Jadeite left a youma on the roof to attack as a last-ditch effort after his plan failed. It blew up the police car. But that isn't the disturbing part."

"What was, then?" Luna asked.

"Someone was shooting at us. _Shot_ us, in fact."

"Like with regular bullets?" Naru gasped. "As in guns, not lasers or fireballs or whatever youma use, but _human guns_?"

"Yes. Thankfully, it turns out that our senshi uniforms are, in fact, bulletproof. I wish I had found out under more controlled circumstances, or never at all, but things could have been much worse." She rubbed her cheek, contemplating her close call with death.

"I'm still going to have a hell of a fucking bruised shoulder," Usagi groaned as she emerged from the bathroom. The girls jumped up and ran over to her before she collapsed. She was dripping wet, and warm, and looked horribly vulnerable, and was only barely wearing a towel. She looked up at Ami weakly. "Sorry I left such a mess, but I feel like shit," she groaned. "And how do you get off without a fucking scratch? I thought I saw you get shot, too."

"Whoa, language much?" Naru commented with raised eyebrows, moving to act as Usagi's crutch. Ami thought Usagi's mess just meant her clothes until the smell hit her, at which point she took a second look at Usagi's mouth.

"Naru, get her to the kitchen and rinse out her mouth in the sink," she ordered, her doctor side taking over. "Then get her to eat something simple."

"You sure you want me puttering around your kitchen?" Naru asked uncertainly.

"Your other option is cleaning up vomit," Ami said bluntly, moving to the cupboard with sanitation supplies. Naru grimaced, not having realized what had happened, and pulled the blonde away.

_On second thought, though, I should do this first,_ Ami realized, and moved into the bathroom as her stomach also roiled. Ten minutes later Ami shakily walked back in—wearing a new outfit—and found the two of them nibbling on crackers. Luna was curled up in Usagi's lap. She moved over to the sink, ignoring Naru's question that she honestly hadn't heard, and washed her mouth out a second time to be thorough, before taking a seat a the table.

"Sorry about the mess," Usagi repeated weakly. Ami smiled weakly and put a reassuring hand on her friend's arm.

"I made a bigger mess," she confessed. "You got it almost all in the toilet, and I ended up getting half on myself."

"I'm sorry I didn't help," Naru said worriedly. "I would've if I'd heard you throwing up."

"It's not a problem," Ami assured. "Usagi, I put both our clothes in the wash to get off the slime and sickness. Do you want to borrow an outfit?"

"Is anyone else going to show up?" Usagi asked in an apparent non-sequitur. Her friends shared a look and shook their heads. "Then if you guys aren't feeling freaked out, I think I'll stay with the towel." They shared a look again.

"I've seen it before at the hot springs," Naru commented with a shrug.

"I'm studying to be a doctor. Bodies and vomiting aren't important in the grand scheme of things," Ami agreed.

"I'm naked already," Luna said. They all burst out laughing.  
++++++++++++++++++

It was the evening after a long day when Saeko Mizuno opened the door to the apartment and heard a cheery, jingling music that she recognized from one of her daughter's video games. _Mario never gets old, does it? I'm glad she's finally enjoying those. They must have sat in the case for a year or so before she finally tried them out._ Then she heard something else.

"Noooooo! How could I lose again?" wailed an unfamiliar voice, followed by cheerful laughter.

"Don't worry, Usagi. You'll beat Ami one of these days," a second girl said. "You know, probably right after you spend a few days practicing with your grandchildren!" She burst out laughing again.

"Now, now," said Ami's tinkling voice, in a cheerful tone Saeko barely recognized. "I'm sure it won't be that long, Naru. Maybe just after she gets her first A+ on a final exam." The laughter got louder.

"S-so, even _further_ in the future than what _I_ was guessing, right?" Came the voice of Naru.

"Hey!" yelled the voice of the girl called Usagi. Saeko's face lit up like the sun when what she was hearing finally clicked. _Ami brought her friends over! This is wonderful!_ She strode into the living room and decided to take advantage of the fact that they hadn't noticed her. Cupping her hands around her mouth, she called out.

"Eek! Burglars!" The reactions were hilarious. Her daughter spun around so fast that she fell off the couch and onto the floor, wide-eyed. The redheaded girl with a green ribbon in her hair had just finished drinking, and her eyes bugged out of her head as she barely managed to keep from spit taking. The long-haired blonde, however, was the funniest.

She screeched like a banshee and—in what the doctor would much later recall as one of the most astounding (and done accidently, no less) feats of acrobatics she had seen—shot a good three or four feet into the air, simultaneously somersaulting forward so that she was upside-down and facing Saeko at the height of her jump, and then crashing back down to the cushions she had been sitting on, unharmed. Ami's mother burst out laughing, and after a few seconds the three teens joined in.

"Usagi, Naru," Ami said as they wound down finally, "this is my mother. Mom, this is Usagi," she pointed to the blonde, "and Naru," she motioned to the redhead.

"It's a pleasure," Naru said, still chuckling. Usagi jumped over the back of the couch and threw her arms around the older woman in a tight hug.

"I'm soooooo happy to meet you!" she exclaimed, and bounced backwards a few steps. Apparently, she had misjudged or forgotten exactly where the couch was, because she hit the back of it mid-bounce and somersaulted backwards, thumping down on the floor next to Ami. "Owie…"

"Are you alright?"

"I've had worse," Usagi said, and laughed nervously. "Keep me away from the fine china, though, this bunny is worse than a bull!" Saeko smiled at the joke and everyone took a seat.

"I've heard so much about you from Ami," she said. "And yet she still couldn't quite do you justice, now that I meet you face to face." Usagi blushed.

"Thanks, Ms. Mizuno." Then she leaned over to Ami and asked in an exaggerated whisper, "You only told her about the good stuff, right?" That got another round of chuckles.

"Mother," Ami began. "Would it be alright if Usagi and Naru slept over? I thought I should ask you before we called their parents."

"If their families don't mind, then it would be a pleasure. The phone is over there." A few minutes later they both had permission, and everyone was smiling. Saeko joined them for a few rounds of gaming, as well, displaying surprising skill for an adult, though still not enough. Then Usagi's stomach rumbled.

"Heh-heh? Oops? I guess I'm hungry again," she said sheepishly. Saeko sighed. "I'm sorry, but I've had a bad day at work. Would take-out be acceptable?"

"Of course."

"Sure!"

"That sounds good to me."

"Chinese?" She got a round of nods and they spent the next few minutes digging out menus and ordering. Then Usagi, naturally curious and caring, had to ask.

"So, you said you had a bad day? What happened?" Saeko sighed. Ami flinched a little, worried that her mother had lost a patient, which always put her in a foul mood.

"It could have been worse," Ami's mother said. "I work at the hospital, so it could have been a horrible day, but I didn't lose any patients, thankfully. We had a large influx of injuries from an incident, but nothing life threatening. We were just understaffed. Have you girls been watching the news?" Ami got a feeling that she knew what this was about.

"Not really," Usagi admitted, "I'm more of an anime person."

"You know about these Sailor Senshi going around?" Realization flashed in Naru's and Usagi's eyes, but it was too late to back out of the conversation now.

"I was actually around for the thing with the police this afternoon," Naru said. "Is that what you were talking about? Cars blowing up and people shooting?"

"Yes," Saeko said. "You were there, you say? I only managed to put together a general picture of what happened. Would you mind telling me about it?"

"Well…so there are these things the senshi are fighting, right? Monsters called, um, youma I think I heard."

"Yes, they drain people's ki," Saeko agreed. That got the girls' attention.

"Ki? What's that?" asked Usagi.

"Ki is the word used for the aura of energy the body produces from cellular activity," the doctor explained. "It used to be more prominently known, but these days it's becoming less and less heard of. You might call it your life-energy, although that term isn't entirely accurate either. Some extraordinarily skilled martial artists can be trained to use it as a weapon, but that level of dedication is becoming less and less common as well."

"It sounds like chakra," Usagi mused. "Youma killer no jutsu!" She giggled.

"I'm surprised I haven't heard much about it," Ami said with a frown. "I would think it would be important for medicine."

"They still make you take a class on it in medical school," her mother agreed, "but only the one class. Ki is only important when dealing with pressure points and acupuncture, or when you need to give medical aid to a ki-user. And in my years of medicine, I've never yet had to do the latter. With more and more modern advances, it's going the way of herbal poultices and other natural remedies. With these monsters—youma?—it might see an upswing in popularity again. Now, you were saying, Naru?"

"Oh! Right," she said absently. "I've been caught in like, four or five youma attacks, so I'm sort of an old hat at them by now. I'm guessing the youma had set up in that candy shop, and the senshi went in to clear it out before it could hurt anyone." She fiddled with her hair a bit nervously. "The shop filled up with this fog they use, and people came streaming out the door. I think there were still a few people inside, though. I mean, people who stayed inside. One guy who came out really late was complaining about how his phone couldn't take a video through the fog. Idiot."

"Staying near a monster fight like that because you want to take a video does seem like Darwin Award material."

"I'm just glad they weren't actually hurt," Ami said in response to her mother's tasteless joke. Naru continued.

"After a few minutes a whole bunch of cop cars showed up and moved everyone away while they formed a barricade. Reporters, too. The mist vanished, and one of them used a megaphone and I think they did the 'come out with your hands up' shtick. I was there, but I couldn't really hear over everyone else, because I was smart enough to keep away from the monster-infested building. That got the police a few complaints."

"Complaints?"

"The senshi are pretty popular, even if people don't know much about them. There was almost an uproar that they were 'treating those young heroines like criminals'. The senshi came out, but without their hands up. Sailor Moon looked really beaten up. I'm not really sure who said what, but Sailor Moon did this cool voice projection spell, I guess, if you believe in magic, and basically went on a really polite rant. Apparently she had to fight a tentacle monster, and she was exhausted."

"Brr…" Usagi said, shuddering. "Tentacle monsters and magical girls with short skirts. Sounds _really_ nasty."

"I suppose a bit of it depends on if you believe in magic," Saeko said mildly. The girls shared a look.

"Do you?"

"Well…I don't really know. I would have said no before, but… Well, let me put it like this. Just because people never saw an elephant before doesn't mean they don't exist. However, if you don't know what an elephant looks like and someone shows you what they say is an elephant, you should do some research on your own, anyway. It may turn out to be a rhinoceros, after all."

"So you don't believe in magic, but you don't deny it either," Naru summarized.

"Yes, exactly. But it might just be sufficiently advanced technology. Now, what was this about an exploding car?"

"Right after Sailor Moon finished talking, one of the police cars burst into flame. _Green_ flame. Everyone panicked, and the Sailor Senshi looked surprised and stumbled back, too, so I don't think it was their doing. Then fire kept showing up, and there were what sounded like gunshots. I think someone was shooting at the senshi, because they looked like they got hit, although I didn't see any blood. Then they jumped onto the roof of the shop, and I think I saw a youma there, but it vanished. Maybe they dusted it, but they didn't come back down."

"That was a much more complete story than I had," Saeko said. "No one seemed sure of anything at the hospital. Maybe you should call the police and tell them what you told me." The girls shared an uncertain look, and Usagi nodded slightly, granting tentative permission.

"I guess. I'll call them tomorrow, I think."

"If there were reporters, then would this be on the news yet?" Ami wondered.

"Let's check," her mother suggested, turning the television back on and flipping through a few channels.

"No one was killed in the incident, although a few people suffered minor injuries," said a reporter. "The worst two were an officer who suffered burns on his arms, and a woman who was hit by a ricochet bullet. Their names have been kept private at their own request. No information has been released as to where the bullet may have been fired from, but eyewitnesses and film records all agree that neither of the so-called Sailor Senshi carried firearms, or took any discernably threatening actions, suggesting that they may have been the targets. Also, seven other bullets were recovered from the scene, none of which struck anyone, it appears. And now we take you to city hall, where city police chief Yamada Kenshin is holding a press conference." The frame changed to show a tall, heavy-set man with short dark hair and a bushy mustache standing at a podium.

"Due to the chaos and questions surrounding this blatant attack on our officers," he announced gruffly, "I have been convinced to name these Sailor Senshi enemies of the public, and issue a warrant for their arrest."

"_What!"_ exploded the girls. The reaction at city hall was not much quieter. Finally one reporter made himself heard.

"Commissioner Yamada, is it really wise to focus on these heroines and not the monsters they are fighting?"

"The monsters they _appear_ to be fighting," he said sharply. "We know nothing of their origin, their motives, their methods, or their plans. It could very well be that they are actually in league with the Dark Kingdom, and are merely using this to gain good publicity so that they have the public's backing when they show their true colors."

"Commissioner, weren't they offering to cooperate earlier today?"

"Yes, and then what happened? They blew up several police cars and hospitalized several men and women who put their lives on the line daily to protect you all! Have you no respect for _their_ suffering?" Yamada roared.

"But weren't people firing at the senshi?"

"What of the pictures of a monster on the roof, that attacked the car?"

"Will you be bringing in other demon hunters to help the city?"

"Have you identified the gunman targeting our heroines?"

"Enough!" Yamada roared. "There was no gunman firing on the senshi and no youma on the roof! I have examined the evidence and the testimony several times, some of which is not yet available to the public, and I will hear no more of this nonsense. The senshi need to be stopped, no matter what! I will not have vigilante justice for any reason! The press conference is over!" He turned and left the podium, ignoring the near rioting in the room. Saeko turned off the television.

"What on earth is that man thinking?" she muttered, disturbed. "Naru, you should definitely contact the police department and give your testimony soon." The shell-shocked redhead nodded mutely, and took a moment to pull herself together. The two civilian senshi were still almost catatonic.

"If you don't mind, Ms. Mizuno, I'm going to drag these two upstairs and set up some cots. We'll come back down once they reboot from the blue screen of death." Their hostess nodded and Naru dragged the two unresisting senshi upstairs and into the bluenette's room, shutting the door. She sat the two on Ami's bed, took a deep breath, and reared back her hands.

*Slap!*

*Thwack*

"Ouch!" they both yelped as Naru shook out her stinging hands. The news release slid back into Usagi's mind.

"What the HELL is that IDIOT thinking?" she shrieked. "We risk our lives to save other people, we're up at all hours of the day and night, we never get rest days in case we miss something, and did I mention we SAVE LIVES! He's treating us like—like—like we're CRIMINAAAALLLS! WAAAAAHHH!" She broke down crying, her wail echoing around the room, and Ami looped an arm around her shoulder while Naru took her other side. "Is it all for n-nothing? Does-s i-it even matter? Why b-b-bother fighting if th-this is what h-happens? WAAAAAAHHH!"

*Whap!*

This time it was Ami who had delivered the Earth-to-Usagi call. "Usagi, I don't know what's happened, but we will figure it out and clear our names. Do you understand?" Usagi nodded. "Good. Because I don't ever want to hear you wonder if this is worthwhile ever again. We don't save lives for thanks or reward, we do it because it is the right thing to do, and if you think otherwise then you aren't the Usagi I so greatly love and respect." There was a long pause as the words hung in the air. Usagi's eyes hardened.

"You're right. We do this to protect the innocent. And we will track down the Dark Kingdom and _punish them_ in the name of the moon! Even if we have to wade through a crowd of police to do so. We will not stop until the world is safe!" Naru started clapping wildly and Ami laughed. The old Usagi was back.

"Now, what was going on there?" Naru asked her friends. They shared a look and shrugged.

"Have we really done that much damage?" Usagi asked. "I thought we've kept it pretty low."

"I do not believe our collateral damage has been excessive at all," Ami stated. "There's some, certainly, but it could be much worse. Sailor M's problems with things getting caught in the crossfire are worse than ours."

"Maybe it's politics," Naru said. "Someone might be leaning on him to bring us in. But why?"

"Our abilities are rather extraordinary," Ami mused. "It is not unthinkable that they might hope for a specimen to study in hopes of recreating our abilities. Or an extraordinarily religious official might see us as walking blasphemies and seek to 'cleanse the abominations'."

"Sick extremists," Naru growled.

"Or he may just be frightened of things he doesn't understand, and is reacting out of fear turned into hatred. He may also see us as threatening because our handling of the youma makes him look inept, and he wishes to preserve his job."

"Or it might be the Dark Kingdom," Usagi said. The others paused.

"That is possible," Ami agreed. "I would not wish to put every setback in their hands, as someone else may blindside us in the future if we do, but it bears considering."

"Yeah, they might be threatening his family they way they would ours if they knew our identities, or they might just have hypnotized him," Naru agreed. "That probably explains the youma and the sniper—they were luring us into trap, and are trying to lure us out to exterminate us."

"Ami, what do you think we can do?" Usagi asked. "Give me a list."

"One: we could do nothing and continue as we have while ignoring the police presence. This is undesirable, as they would not ignore us in return, and things would undoubtedly escalate."

"It would also mean that I'd have to stop helping, since I'm not bulletproof," Naru added.

"That's definitely out," Usagi decided. "You're as much a member of the team as I am. We will not let this stand!" She pumped her fist, and winced as it aggravated her bruised shoulder. "Owie. Why did _I_ have to bruise? Ami got off scot-free."

"My armor is naturally stronger than yours, that's all. Two: we could stop fighting the youma until the authorities realize that they can't handle things without us."

"No!" Usagi snapped. "I won't let people get hurt, and I won't let Berry-what's-her-name win!"

"Exactly what I was going to say, but it's good to have thrown it out there."

"Option three: we actively oppose the police as we do the Dark Kingdom. This would be bad, as it would hurt our image and also cause harm to innocents."

"Not. Happening."

"Four: we can attempt to subtly unravel the cause of the commissioner's obsession and get him off our case. The downside being that this would be a delicate operation requiring time."

"Maybe," Usagi said, pursing her lips. "Maaaybe."

"Finally, we can go public with our own story in an attempt to get the commissioner replaced with someone more sympathetic to our cause. The downsides—"

"I've made my choice," Usagi said. "Unless there's some really really good option you haven't covered yet?"

"Nothing beyond those five immediately come to mind."

"So what's the plan?" Naru asked.

"We'll try subtle first, 'cause the guy might be a victim too. If that doesn't work, we go to a television station and go public like Ami suggested," Usagi said. The others nodded.

"Works for me."

"I find no faults inherent in the plan."

"Good." Usagi fell back on Ami's bed. "I can't shake the feeling that I'm missing something, though."

"I have a similar feeling," Ami confessed. "Something about the commissioner's speech doesn't sit right with me."

"I'm not feeling it, but you guys are the ones with the senshi instincts," Naru said. "Now, is this a slumber party or what? All work and no play—"

"Makes Jack a dull boy," Usagi finished.

"You've seen the movie?" Ami asked.

"Horror movie buff at age eleven. Remember?"

"_I_ tried to block it out," Naru said drily, and grinned. "Now, Ami." The girl looked nervous as Naru reached into the bag she'd dropped off in the room earlier. "There's an ancient tradition at these events that we have to uphold. It's time to give you: a _make-over_! Bwahahahaha!"  
++++++++++++++++

Later that night the girls were all asleep. Naru was on the bedroll nearest the hall and Usagi on the one near the bed. Ami should have been sleeping in her bed, but had tossed and turned too much, and everything from the waist up had slipped down to the floor, with her head using Usagi's chest as a pillow. At least, that was until Usagi bolted upright with a panicked gasp, her eyes shooting wide open. "The Dark Kingdom!"

"What? What?" the other mumbled, stirring awake. Ami blushed when she found her head in Usagi's lap and fell all the way out of bed when she tried to free herself.

"Did you have a nightmare?" Naru asked.

"Yes," Usagi confessed, remembering the churning images of the Generals, youma, the commissioner, and a mountain of corpses in a flat, dead land. "But I also know what bugged me about the speech. The Dark Kingdom is definitely involved."

"What spee—oh. Yeah. What was it?"

"If the commissioner was just a normal person, _how did he know that they were called the Dark Kingdom?_"  
+++++++++++++++++++

Well, we have reached the ¼ mark. Coming up next, it's the beginning of the end, for Zoicite.


	11. Zoicite's Dowfall part 1

I don't own Sailor Moon. Or Love Hina.  
+++++++++++++++++++

Taking a deep breath Naru walked into the police station. Usagi and Ami were right behind her, having first gone senshi and then used the disguise pen to take on adult forms. Ami was walking a tad uncomfortably, having the short straw and ended up as Naru's 'uncle'. The thought alone made the redhead grin a little as she walked up to the receptionist's desk. At least Ami kept her visor as a pair of cool shades while disguised; Usagi's tiara and jewels were nowhere in sight. Of course, the beard stubble and other 'equipment' might make up for that.

"Excuse me," she said to the attendant at the desk. The woman put down her magazine and smiled at her politely.

"I'm sorry, I hadn't heard you approaching. How may I be of service?"

"My name is Osaka Naru, and I was a witness to the Sailor Senshi incident yesterday, and I'd like to give some testimony. A lot of what I heard from the commissioner's speech was just plain wrong, from what I experienced."

"You're not the only one who thinks that," said a male voice from off to the side. A forty-ish man in uniform approached carefully. "There were three officers who have family the senshi saved that turned in their badges out of protest. Unfortunately, the commissioner isn't listening to anyone and refuses to compromise on our orders." The officer grimaced.

"If you want to give testimony, I'm supposed to contact city hall and they'll send over a special agent," the receptionist explained. "They'll be here in half an hour or so once I do. Would you like to wait, or come back later?"

"Actually," said Ami, her deeper voice a bit scratchy, "could you wait and listen to her testimony here before contacting anyone? If what she suspects is true, then it wouldn't be safe for one of the commissioner's men to be around her."

"Wouldn't be safe?" Naru drew in a deep breath and steeled herself to drop the bomb.

"I think that the commissioner might be controlled by the monsters, assuming he hasn't just been replaced by a lookalike." There was a long beat of silence.

"Do you have evidence to back this up?" the receptionist asked carefully.

"In his speech last night he let slip something he wouldn't have known on his own. And it might explain his unwillingness to compromise if he was being threatened or controlled." The two police shared a look.

"I'll get you an interview with the captain," said the man.

A few minutes later they were in an interrogation room like the one Usagi had spoken with Hino-sensei in. Naru sat in a chair with her 'aunt' and 'uncle' behind her. Across the table sat the police captain who had introduced himself as Tawanaka Shisui, and an unnamed officer acting as witness. On the table between them sat a tape-recorder and a laptop with a clip of Commissioner Yamada's speech. The captain hit the Record button.

"Please identify yourself."

"Osaka Naru, age 14, high school freshman at Juuban Public High."

"And you are here for what reason?"

"I have had more contact with the Sailor Senshi than almost anyone else, beginning with Sailor Moon's first appearance at my mother's jewelry store when she rescued me from a monster. I want to give testimony as a witness to what happened at the candy store incident, culminating in a minor firefight that the senshi were blamed for. I also have evidence that makes me suspect that the police commissioner may not have been acting of his own free will when he issued orders for the senshi's arrest."

"You are here of your own free will?"

"Yes."

"You understand that as a minor, your testimony is inadmissible in a formal court of law without a special exception?"

"I'm giving this testimony in the hopes of keeping this out of the courts of law."

"You say you have had contact with the senshi over multiple attacks. Would you please relate the history for the purposes of the record?"

"My first encounter with Sailor Moon was when she rescued me from an attack at my mother's jewelry store. I was in here for questioning after that as well."

"We have this on our records. Continue." The three girls had been very careful to go over exactly which attacks they could confirm Naru as being at without giving away her identity as an associate. The testing began now.

"I attended the Mikan-Mikan competition with my friend Tsukino Usagi. I did not become a victim of the drain because I left early, but several friends could testify that I was there."

"Why did you leave early?"

"I was becoming uncomfortable because many people's actions reminded me of the events prior to the attack on my mother's shop. When my friend's period came early I used her cramps as an excuse to get us both out of there, and I believe I saw Sailor Moon out of the corner of my eye at some point, but cannot be certain."

"Next?"

"I attended the attack on the public wedding where I realized what was going on and helped evacuate other bystanders as well as throwing a vase at an attacker's head."

"Why did you not come forward for testimony then?"

"I assumed that you had more information already, and were merely keeping it under wraps. There are rumors going around that the senshi are the result of secret government programs, and I figured you would recognize and contact me if needed."

"I wish our abilities were as great as the conspiracy theorists feared," chuckled the captain. "Any others?"

"Oh, yes. For starters, I encountered them in the stairwell when my principal was replaced by a youma, and offered to pull the fire alarm for them as a distraction." The captain's eyebrows rose and he leaned forward to get close to the tape-recorder.

"Let the record show that the events at Juuban Public High did not reach the news and were covered up as a gas leak. The principal and his secretary only related the events to the officers who arrived on the scene. Continue."

"I was also in the audience at Soratsuki stadium and recognized the feeling of being drained, but I passed out before I could act."

"Any other encounters?"

"I was with three friends at Hikawa Shrine when the buses reappeared. One had been interested in volunteering and I had felt that the senshi were involved and wanted to get a closer look at what might happen."

"Did you see anything of interest?"

"Sailor Uranus appeared to be badly injured, and possibly dead, and was being carried by a man the newspapers have been calling Tuxedo Kamen. It was my first time seeing them both. Unfortunately, the excitement caused by the reappearances caused everyone to rush around, and my friend Tennou Haruka fell down the stairs, suffering serious harm. I was preoccupied with keeping her alive until the ambulance arrived."

"I'm sorry to hear that. The bus events were right before the candy store events, correct?"

"As far as I know. You would know better than me if they showed up some other time."

"You were a witness to this? The events at the store yesterday?"

"I visited a few minutes before the senshi arrived. I left because it also reminded me of my mother's store, and actually saw the senshi approaching as I was leaving. I stuck around in case of trouble and helped pull a few people out of the shop when the mist appeared."

"Well…There _are_ witness records of an unknown girl helping evacuations. That was you?"

"I assume so. There might have been someone else as well."

"And you remained in the area?"

"Yes. I was near the back of the crowd but I was present from when the police asked the senshi to come out until cars started catching on fire, and I saw what appeared to be another monster on the roof of the store, but it vanished not long after the senshi got up there, so I assume they dusted it."

"Dusted?"

"When the senshi kill a monster it crumbles into a cloud of dust almost instantly. I overheard the term used as well, when Moon was at my mother's store and again when I met them at the candy store."

"Thank you. You say you also have suspicions that Commissioner Yamada is being controlled by these monsters?"

"Yes. They—whoever is responsible for the attacks—must have some intelligence to plan their operations, so I don't think it is impossible. It was his speech that raised my suspicions."

"The following is a recording of the press release in question," the captain said, and hit play on the laptop. At the appropriate moment Naru spoke up.

"Stop. That was it." He rewound a few seconds.

"Please, explain."

"He referred to the monsters as youma, and their organization as the Dark Kingdom. I know that terminology from encountering the senshi, but unless your sources are much better than you say, no one else should know that the senshi use that terminology for their enemies." The captain exhaled hard.

"Is that it?"

"Yes. But we know that the youma can imitate people from when Mikan-Mikan was impersonated. If they had the head of the police under their control, who would fight them?" There was a long, slow pause as the captain drank this in. Then he turned to the officer in the corner.

"Lieutenant Aosaki, what is your opinion on this?" The much younger man frowned and fidgeted for a few moments.

"I think it's worth the risk," he said finally. "If she's wrong than no one is seriously hurt, and we just take some flak for being a little _too_ careful. If she's right, then it's our duty to stop what's happening."

"My thoughts exactly." He turned back to Naru. "Even if you're wrong, I can't thank you enough for bringing this to my attention. You may well have saved a lot of innocent people." He sighed a put his head in his hands.

"If only I knew what to do now. It would be a political nightmare to try and arrest the commissioner, and what would I do after that? I don't suppose you would know how to find out if someone is being controlled by this…Dark Kingdom?" He turned to look at Naru and narrowed his eyes. "For that matter, would you know how to get in contact with the senshi, having encountered them so many times?" Naru squirmed under his gaze and her 'aunt' coughed, recognizing her cue.

"I had an idea about that, if you don't mind a bit of normal person help."

"Civilian. You mean civilian help," her 'uncle' said under his breath.

"Right! Civilian help. Want some?"

"At times like this, it certainly couldn't hurt," the captain said warily.

"There's supposed to be a special agent sent over for this stuff, right? Have them send him over, and he might turn out to be a youma, or might be controlled like the commissioner, or might have ideas on how to help you."

"…That seems workable," Captain Kawanaka said, relieved. "This is so far out of my usual depth I'm willing to try anything." He turned to the mirror in the wall. "One of you, go send a message to city hall. And Miss Osaka, _do_ you have a way to contact the senshi?" Naru looked around uncomfortably, before spilling a little when her 'aunt' put a calming hand on her shoulder.

"I can guarantee that the senshi will show up if they have to, and that's all I can really say without a breach of trust," she said firmly. The captain nodded.

"I can live with that, for now." He stood up. "While we wait, may I offer you some refreshments in the break room?" He turned to the mirror again. "And I don't want any of you swarming the poor girl. She's going through quite enough as is."

"There are a number of officers watching," Naru's 'uncle' deduced drily. It was odd that he hadn't taken off his sunglasses, but nothing truly abnormal, Kawanaka supposed.

"If I know my men, almost all of them that are available are clustered behind that window," he agreed with a chuckle. "Many of them were greatly upset when the orders about the sailors came in. They are rather popular here, considering how bad things would be if they weren't around."

"They're called the senshi, collectively," Naru volunteered, and blushed when she realized what she had let slip. "Um, don't ask how I know that. Please?" Everyone just laughed, letting the building tension flow away for a little while."  
++++++++++++++++++++

"Unacceptable!" snapped the agent the city hall had sent. She wore a tight business suit with thin vertical stripes, and held herself like a tightly coiled spring. In fact, everything about her was tight, from the bun she tied her hair in, to her face and the line of her lips, and even her voice was tight and snappy. "My orders are very specific. Anyone with information on the senshi is to be taken to city hall to give a private interview."

"Absolutely not!" replied Naru's aunt. "My niece will say what she has to with us present, or not at all."

"Captain," said the woman, "these people are obstructing the fulfillment of my orders. Arrest them so that I can take the girl." Captain Kawanaka hummed, already seeing the young redhead's point more and more clearly.

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Ms. Ito. They came here of their own free will to volunteer information, and have not broken any laws."

"And now that we know that they have information, they are refusing to give it to us, and thus aiding _criminals_."

"That's not the way the law works, ma'am."

"_I am ordering you to arrest them!_"

"You don't have the authority to do that," he responded darkly. As it looked like she was going to explode, he added, "Perhaps you should call city hall, and _they_ will sort this out?" The woman bristled, and let out a hiss.

"Fine! You call. Now!" The captain motioned and the receptionist started dialing. Meanwhile, Ms. Ito looked very uncomfortable, eyes glancing around at the police officers in the area. In the captain's experience, she looked very much like a criminal worried about holes in his alibi. Or, he conceded, he also saw a look like that on rookies dumped into a situation they didn't know the protocol for. Either way, though, it wasn't making him trust her any more. "Can't you tell your men to go away?" she hissed. The captain gave a few hand signs to fall back, and half of them moved out of sight. Only just out of sight, though, as almost the entire station was willing to side with the senshi at the moment. The receptionist handed Ms. Ito the phone.

"It's Ito. I'm here, but the girl's aunt and uncle won't let me take her, and the captain won't arrest them." She waited a few moments and handed the phone to the captain.

"Good afternoon. Yes. No. I'm afraid it doesn't work like that, sir. No sir. There is a perfectly viable alternative, sir. The rooms here are completely private, and her aunt and uncle have agreed to stay out during the testimony. You can't order me to do that, sir, I'll resign first. You should know that, sir. Yes sir. I'm glad we agree, sir." He handed the phone back to Ms. Ito. The Commissioner had not objected to being called sir so many times. Something _was_ wrong.

"What? You're going through with this? Then how do I…oh. I understand." She smiled cruelly and hung up. "There is to be no one else in the room during the proceedings, and no witnesses, yes?"

"Okay," said Naru's 'Aunt'. "We'll wait in the lounge." Naru followed the woman into the room while everyone else filed off. Ms. Ito flinched a little at the mirror, but settled down when she realized it was just her reflection.

"Now," she began, turning to Naru with a sick smile, "what do you have to say about the Sailor Senshi?"  
+++++++++++++++++++

Captain Kawanaka and eight other officers stood behind the one-way window looking into the interrogation room. He was feeling rather jittery, and thumbed the safety of his rarely used firearm. Only two other officers were similarly armed. It wasn't often he regretted his country's strict gun control laws, but this was one of the few times guns could be useful. _Assuming they work on this monster, at any rate. Otherwise I may as well go up against it with a bow and arrow, or blow darts._

"If I doubted your niece before, now I don't," he said, seeing Ms. Ito flinch at her reflection. "She doesn't know about the mirror, and she completely ignored the security camera." He turned to the redhead's aunt and uncle. "Are you certain the senshi will show up in time? These youma might be more than my men can handle."

"If Naru is positive, we are positive," her aunt said firmly.

"Even so…" He turned back to the officers. "Men, I want you ready to engage at the drop of a hat."

"Captain!" called one of the officers, as others shifted to readiness. The captain turned back to the glass to see Naru on the ground holding a cheek after Ms. Ito struck her. The girl's uncle hissed.

"On my mark," he began, but Naru' uncle interrupted.

"Wait. If you move before she drops the disguise we won't get any proof."

"You're okay with your niece getting hurt?" he asked incredulously. The aunt answered before the uncle could.

"No. I don't want anyone getting hurt. Including your men." She turned to her husband. "We're dropping the charade." Before anyone could reply the aunt's form wavered, and Sailor Moon stood in her place.

"How in the—" began the captain, as the uncle turned into Sailor Mercury.

"Magic. Mercury, that _is_ a youma, right?"

"Yes," said Mercury, "and I have a read on it, albeit a very imperfect one. It doesn't seem very competent at draining energy, but its combat prowess will be unpleasant. I can faintly see through the disguise, now, and it appears to be composed of a number of small, wiry tentacles that it can use to pierce or strangle, and will be strong, sturdy, and fast. A fighter, rather than one to harvest energy."

"You—you planned this from the beginning?" stuttered out the captain, genuinely surprised. He'd expected something, admittedly, but nothing at this level of deception.

It was surprisingly intimidating to be in the presence of these two, despite their youth. Their _apparent_ youth, at any rate. He couldn't tell very many details about their appearance aside from height and hair color. And gender, presumably.

He couldn't even see what parts of their faces their masks revealed, no matter how hard he tried. The inability to discern any details was what was so intimidating, Kawanaka realized. He was looking Sailor Moon in the eyes, and he couldn't have guessed her eye-color if he was offered ten-million yen.

"Not completely," demurred Sailor Mercury. Sailor Moon spoke up.

"We asked Miss Osaka to help—crap! It's attacking!" He followed Moon as she burst through the door, Mercury right behind them. Naru had backed away the second it began to transform, having expected it, and slipped behind them as more officers entered the room."

"You're under arrest," Kawanaka yelled, mostly out of habit. His hands were shaking badly at the sight of the demon, but he stilled them with a breath.

"You have deceived honest people and attacked innocents!" declared Sailor Moon. "Surrender and we'll try to be lenient, if you help us reveal Jadeite's plot."

"Firssst," hissed the youma, which resembled a large red woman made of straw, "I ssserve General Zoicite, not Jadeite. Sssecond, you've played into my massster's hand, sssince I can jussst kill everyone here and blame it on you sssenshi."

"You won't even get away with trying!"

"Oh? Isss that ssso? Well, third, I am Tentito, one of General Zoicite's persssonally empowered youma. Four: you," a dozen wires whipped forward without any warning. Mercury got out of the way, but one punched clean through Moon's right shoulder, and there were several cries as officers were hurt as well. "are all going to die."

"Moon Tiara Magic!" called Moon, managing a clumsy throw with her left hand. Kawanaka pulled out his gun, prayed, and opened fire on the monster. His bullets barely phased it, and it swung one of its arms straight into the tiara.

"The hell!?" yelled Sailor Moon as her tiara was batted aside and into the wall. The thing lost a large chunk of its arm, Kawanaka noticed, but the threads had rewoven into a replacement limb in seconds.

"Aqua Bubble Burst! Mercury Spray Shroud!" The blue scout grabbed an injured man and dragged him out of the room, motioning for the others to follow.

"Into the hall!" called Moon. "Moon Tiara Magic!" Kawanaka didn't see whether it worked, as he was retreating into the hall, but guessed the attack failed again since they weren't going to stop fighting. Moon slammed the door to the room. "My tiara didn't work! What do we do?"

"Your tiara did work, just not well enough," Mercury replied, as they heard the youma snarling incoherently in the other room. "Its main body is a soft, black mass slightly larger than my head, abdomen, and torso—about the same shape, too. The threads are outgrowths from that mass, and it weaves them into limbs for it to use. We need to hit the center, not the threads, which it can regrow. Ms. Osaka."

"Huh? I mean, yes?" said the redhead, whom Kawanaka had just realized was still present.

"Please retreat from the area, Ms. Osaka. This youma is even more dangerous than the usual ones we fight, and you have placed yourself in enough danger for our sake." Mercury sounded very serious, and Moon shot her a look to reinforce Mercury's request.

"I—" She trailed off and nodded glumly.

"Remember," said Moon, "we never would have gotten this far without you."

"Okay," she said, and jogged away toward the main lounge. Kawanaka could hear shouting and movement as the station readied itself for whatever might come. In the event that it was a youma, he'd given orders that this thing was not to be engaged up close if it could be avoided. He knew that the rest of his men would stay back to trap it in the hall if it got past them. The building was now locked down, and he was glad the senshi had been here.

He was also as scared as he could remember being. He had faced down rapists, murderers, sociopaths, _slave traders_ on one occasion, and generally the worst elements of humanity. That _thing_ though, was like nothing he had ever come across. It wasn't that it was evil; it was that it was inhuman in a way he had never quite encountered. It _felt_ different, in a vast looming way that reminded him of his childhood nightmares. He swallowed his terror.

"How do we handle this thing?" he asked Moon.

"Don't get close," she advised, shrugging. "I can take it out, and you can't, so you'd just get hurt." Then they heard the crash of broken glass.

"It broke through the mirror!" someone yelled. The girls were already dashing down the hall.

"Moon Tiara Magic!"

"Aqua Bubble Burst!"

The youma screamed in pain or fury, and Sailor Moon screamed too. The sound wasn't especially loud, Kawanaka noted as he raced up to their side, but it had an eerie, echoing quality. The monster appeared to have hunched over in pain, and he pointed his gun at it. Then it _moved_.

He stumbled back. Prickles of pain seared across his body, and he idly realized that it had fired its hairs like needles.

"Aqua Bubble Burst!" It appeared to have trouble moving when wet, and he emptied several rounds into the monster.

"Moon Tiara Magic!" To his surprise, the blonde didn't throw the ring of energy, but gashed it down the side of her leg. She gurgled in pain and dropped the weapon onto the now wet and red tile floor.

"Mirror Light Escalation!" There was a blinding pink flash, and when his vision cleared the floor where the monster had been was charred, smoking, and empty. He opened his mouth.

"Is it dead?" He was praying that it was. The thing was insane. How the senshi fought them so often he couldn't begin to guess.

"It's on the ceiling!" screamed Mercury, and Moon slammed into him. Kawanaka screamed like a girl as it landed where he had been standing, still catching his left foot and turning it into a pincushion.

"I have you now," it crooned, wrapping a bundle of threads around Mercury's neck. Another bundle enveloped his foot and two more shot toward Sailor Moon. He felt the arms of his officers pulling at him from behind, but the wires' grip was too tight.

"Moon Tiara Magic!" she called in response. The tentacles weaved around the ring and slammed into Moon, pinning her to the wall as she began to choke, though she kept ripping at the dozens of wiry threads with her bare hands. Other officers tried to help, but weren't accomplishing anything.

A fifth bundle formed from its chest as the tiara got too close and swatted it away. He saw out of the corner of his eye, as he scrambled for his dropped gun, that there was something black beneath the red. Sailor Mercury saw it too, and kicked.

The youma let out a breathless scream, like a man punched in the gut, and he felt his bonds loosen ever so slightly. Mercury dropped to the floor. She didn't cast a spell, she didn't back away, and she didn't hesitate.

She dug her gloved hands into the black mass and _ripped._

It screamed and convulsed as she threw pieces left and right with a single-minded fury. All of the strands pulled back and twisted with the intent of ripping the blue soldier apart.

Sailor Moon didn't have her tiara, but she threw herself in front of Mercury's exposed back and _screamed_.

The wires wavered, but a few dug into Sailor Moon's body. Then, with a sickeningly wet *thwock* Sailor Mercury flexed her arms and tore the monster's body in half. Her gloves were dyed black with ichor, and it was spattered across her face and front.

"Finish it," she ordered flatly.

"Mirror Light Escalation." Moon's voice was equally emotionless. There was another pink flash, and when his vision cleared the there was nothing left of the youma but dust and smoke. "Is everyone alive?" Sailor Moon asked.

"No one was seriously injured," volunteered someone.

"Except the Captain! Look at his foot!" Captain Kawanaka felt arms pulling him away for medical treatment, and stayed conscious just long enough to see the senshi sway where they stood and slump down to sit on the floor. Then the adrenalin wore off, his blood loss caught up with him, and his body handed him the bill. He passed out.  
++++++++++++++++

"So what now?" the still transformed Usagi asked Sargent Koyama. She was Kawanaka's second-in-command and had taken over when he went to the hospital for treatment. The captain's life was not in danger, they were assured, though it might take a while before he could walk unaided.

"I was rather hoping you had an answer to that," she replied, and the other officers in the room shifted uncomfortably. "These monsters are your specialty, so to speak, so you would know how to handle them better than we would." Mercury cleared her throat, and every eye was on her. In addition to the disguise magic, the dried black ichor still on her uniform kept anyone from _thinking_ of not taking the senshi seriously. These were not children, no matter their apparent youth.

They were soldiers.

"We do have a plan, loosely, but we felt we should find out whether we would have anyone on our side before we got too far ahead of ourselves."

"You have us," said one of the officers, which was seconded by everyone there.

"We are grateful for your aid. Firstly, we need to inform the public about the commissioner, to rob him of support. We can probably handle the youma, but human guards would be problematic."

"So, contact the news?"

"Yes," said Mercury, fiddling with her computer. "There were several camera's that caught the youma attack, and I am downloading their data, along with my own computer's recordings, and…done." A disk popped out of the side of the computer, and she handed it to Koyama. "If someone could take this to a news station and tell our side of the story, it would go a long way toward helping."

"Aosaki, Sakana, I'm putting you in charge of this? Do you know enough of the story?"

"Yes, Sargent, we'll head off right now."

"Keep your phones on, in case we need to update you."

"I should go too, to tell my story," said Naru, who had been sitting next to the senshi. Koyama nodded her assent and all three stepped out the door.

"Next we need to expose the Dark Kingdom's involvement and find out what, exactly, has happened to the commissioner. The first part will be complicated, as it means exposing a youma around witnesses, but the second is simple. If I can get close enough to see Commissioner Yamada I can scan him and determine whether he has been replaced, controlled, or merely blackmailed."

"And can you fix him?"

"It depends. If he is being controlled it should be simple to free him, at which point the problem will effectively take care of itself. If he has been replaced then we can reveal him as a youma in front of witnesses, but will still have to find what really happened to him."

"If he's been replaced what are the chances that he's still alive?" Koyama asked. Usagi and Ami shared a look.

"Difficult to determine. Normally, the Dark Kingdom wouldn't care about collateral damage, or would even find it desirable, draining him of energy until he died. However, there has also been a trend toward more non-lethal operations the past few times, for unknown reasons."

"He might be a hostage," added Usagi, fiddling with her mask.

"That too. The biggest problem would be if he were being blackmailed, in which case we would have to free whoever he is being blackmailed with."

"I think we can rule that out right now," said a corporal. "Commissioner Yamada is married to his job, and I don't think he has any family in the city, for exactly those reasons."

"I hope you are correct. Even so, we need to be certain. Getting close to him may be problematic, however."

"Perhaps we could smuggle you in under the radar, or pretend to take you to him as captives. It would be a bit tricky to pull off, but we could probably put unlocked handcuffs on you and troop you into city hall for interrogation."

"Or we can just disguise ourselves as police and walk up to him, right?" Everyone looked at Usagi, surprised.

"Yes, that should work," said Ami, wondering why that option hadn't occurred to her.

"You can do that?" asked an officer.

"Disguise power! Turn me into a police officer!" she cried in response, holding the disguise pen up in the air. She was shrouded in light for a moment, and when she was visible again, there sat in her place a blonde in her mid-twenties wearing a police corporal's uniform, with her hair done up in a neat bun.

"We can do that," said officer Moon with a grin. She tossed the disguise pen to Ami.

"Alright, then. We have our plan to get close to Commissioner Yamada. If he's hypnotized, we break him free. If he's replaced, we reveal it in front of witnesses. If he's normal, and thus presumably blackmailed, we retreat to plan a new strategy."

"What if someone catches on?" asked Koyama.

"If it's a regular person, we try to get them on our side, or we run," said Usagi. "If it's a youma, we fight it, because that would reveal everything anyway, right?"

"If there are people around?" questioned Ami.

"Then we run," decided Usagi. "If it follows, we fight it where there aren't people. If it stays around, we let it go, or fight it to keep it from hurting people if it attacks."

"It's a bit loose as plans go," decided Koyama, "but there are too many variables to be more effective. We'll accompany you to the commissioner's office. Now?"

"Now's as good a time as any," chirped Usagi with false cheer.

"There will eventually be an outbreak of news about the youma and captain Kawanaka. It would be best if we act before that can occur." Mercury stood up. "Disguise power! Transform me into a police officer!" A flash of light later and officer Mercury stood beside officer Moon.

"Let's go."  
+++++++++++++++++

"Sargent Koyama and Corporals Nichitsuki and Aomizu to see Commissioner Yamada," Koyama told the secretary at the desk. Mercury had fumbled with her sunglasses when they entered the room, signaling that the brunette was a youma, but they weren't ready to break cover yet. Four other officers were waiting outside the door to clear the area if things went south.

"Do you have an appointment?"

"It is something of an emergency and I need to give him a report in person, along with the two officers," she motioned to the disguised senshi, "on the scene."

"This senshi business has him very busy," she drawled, but it was clearly a rehearsed line, "and if you don't have an appointment you'll have to wait. Those are my orders."

"It's _about_ the senshi," Koyama stressed.

"Those are my orders," the disguised youma repeated. "Tell it to one of the specialists he put on the case. They're in the basement." They heard shouts from outside the and running feet, and a man stuck his head in the door.

"Tell the commissioner he needs to turn on the news _right now._ There was an attack on a police station."

"Which is what I need to report on," said Koyama smoothly.

"Sir, there are three officers here about an attack on a police station. What do I do?" she said into an intercom.

"It involved a youma and the senshi," added officer Nichitsuki, who had reached over the desk and held down the button.

"Send them in," came the commissioner's voice. The secretary waved them toward the door. They stepped inside. Officer Aomizu hissed and fiddled with her blue sunglasses. It wasn't the commissioner and it wasn't a youma. _Zoicite! Oh no. We forgot to plan for this eventuality._ She saw the general's image superimposed under that of the large man with the bushy mustache. He leaned forward attentively, reaching down to open a drawer.

_Magic! It's very faint, and I can't see through it, but those two are definitely under some disguise magic, _realized Zoicite. He smiled. _So in addition to Honshen chasing that Tuxedo man around the rooftops all day, the Sailor Senshi walk right into my lair. Wonderful. Knowing Mercury, she's probably suspicious already, but she doesn't yet know that I know. I have surprise on my side, and I don't need this disguise anymore. All that matters is that I kill the senshi._

"You say you have news of the criminals?" he asked, sending out a telepathic signal for his youma to come to him.

"Yes, commissioner," said Koyama. "Less than an hour ago—"

Ami's visor gave her just enough forewarning to throw her weight toward Koyama, knocking her out of the way of the blast Zoicite had fired from under the desk. Koyama would come away with only a few splinters.

Unfortunately, Ami took the blast straight to the chest, and was blown through the wall and into the next room.

Right at the feet of the secretary youma.

"_Mercury_!" screamed Usagi, her jewels activating. She had a split second to decide between targets before the secretary made an attack, and made a choice.

"Moon Tiara Magic!" she yelled, throwing her tiara at the cringing Zoicite. She herself, however, had thrown herself at the youma secretary, who had been revealed as a blue, humanoid _thing_ with praying mantis scythe-arms. Her flying kick caught it on the shoulder instead of the head, which is what she'd been aiming for, but it still went down with her on top of it.

She shoved her face down so that they were almost nose to nose, and _screamed._

Ignoring the burning in her lungs, she kept screaming as long as she could, keeping the youma immobile with pain. She saw Ami beginning to stir out of the corner of her eye. Police were flooding into the room, unaffected by the yell. The officers Koyama had brought had taken charge, she guessed, since they were treating the cringing Zoicite—who had dropped his disguise—like the threat and were helping Mercury to her feet. Her tiara had returned, and Usagi gasped for air.

"Moon Tiara Magic!" The youma just barely managed to block with its black-edged claws. For the first time, she found something her tiara didn't cut cleanly through. She heard the crack of gunfire and distant yelling, but was focused entirely on the youma beneath her.

They stayed locked in that position for several minutes as the world moved around them, no one daring to get too close. It was a contest of strength, she realized sickly. It couldn't cut her tiara or vice-versa. Whoever's strength gave out first would get carved up by the other.

And as her tiara was slowly being forced up, she realized sickly that it might be her.

A pair of shoes and black pants walked into her peripheral vision, but neither she nor it could afford to pay any attention. Then a shoe appeared before her eyes, and stomped down on the youma's face.

It flinched.

"Thanks," Usagi said from atop the pile of dust. She looked up into the face of her savior.

"No, thank you," said commissioner Yamada.  
+++++++++++++++++

"Aqua Bubble Burst!" Ami yelled, directing her spell not at the two youma, but at the stairs they were climbing.

Attempting to climb, at any rate. Ice made it rather problematic.

"I don't suppose you could hurry up and kill them?" asked the officer next to as he fired another two rounds at the youma. The green, wolfish one shrugged off the ice quickly, while the yellow one with spikes took a little longer.

"Aqua Bubble Burst! I don't have enough power. We need Moon. Aqua Bubble Burst!"

"She's coming," called an officer further down the hall. It had been a stroke of pure luck that they—the normal, non-magical police—had managed to trap two youma in the stairwell. Luck that the youma had dropped the transformation when they got Zoicite's message, luck that they had been in the basement at the time, luck that no one had stayed in arm's reach long enough to get hurt, and luck that they had reacted fast enough to bar the youma's way and get a senshi to help.

It helped that the police were experts in wringing every drop of usefulness possible out of every scrap of luck they had. They had to be, to successfully deal with the Tokyo underworld on a regular basis.

"Evil Begone!" shouted a middle-aged man who ran up next to Ami, and he tossed two ofuda at the youma. Her visor immediately told her that there was genuine power in the talismans, and when they hit the youma that power froze them in place. She saw her chance.

"Aqua…Bubble…" The bubble of water in front of her rippled as she crammed as much power into it as she could—hopefully enough for two deluges instead of one. "BURST!"

She immediately jumped after her spell, and slammed a Usagi-style jump-kick into the head of the green youma mid-freeze. She then landed badly, her leg hurting, and slammed into the wall. Her head cleared quickly, though, and she looked up at the other youma. Her visor told her she didn't have enough time, so she turned and scrambled up the stairs.

Crawled, more like it, as her leg didn't want to support her. The priest had pulled out a length of rope and tossed her one end, and she got out of range just as the ice began to crack.

"Aqua Bubble Burst! I don't suppose you could do that again, only stronger?" she asked the priest.

"I'm afraid we'll need to wait for Tsuruko to finish her enemy," he said, shaking his head. "I am Manju Ken."

"Aqua Bubble Burst! It is a pleasure to meet you, Manju-sensei. I—Aqua Bubble Burst!—I am Sailor Mercury."

"A pleasure," he said with a chuckle.  
+++++++++++++++

"Air Cut!" shouted the woman, swinging her sword. A blast of ki-enhanced air shot out from the slash and clipped the insectoid youma buzzing around the room. It spun through the air, attempting to right itself, and shot stingers to keep the swordswoman away. She swerved around them and jumped up, enhancing her legs with ki.

"Boulder-cutting blade!" The youma managed to right itself and dodge her attack, spitting several spikes at her back. The swordswoman displayed incredible skill and senses by swinging her sword behind her back and deflecting them with one hand. She hit the ground and immediately assumed a defensive stance. The youma clicked several times.

"You cannot. Defeat. Buzrath. Human." It voice was clicking as it formed words not meant for its voice box.

"You clearly have never fought a samurai, demon," she countered. "Air Cut Dance!" Her sword became a shimmering blur as she launched a storm of cutting ki at her foe. It appeared to strike dead on, exploding against its armor, and it fell to the ground. Tsuruko approached cautiously, and prepared a killing blow. "Demon…Slash!" She swung down like the wrath of the kami.

"Die!" screamed the youma, launching itself back into the air, completely healed. It aimed its two stinger arms at her exposed head and chest. Tsuruko switched to defense mid-strike, ducking under the stinger aimed at her head and severing the one targeting her chest, causing the hum of Buzrath's wings to intensify. She immediately pressed the attack as it flitted back, and carved a deep gash across its thorax before it flew out of reach.

"That wound should be fatal to most beings," Tsuruko commented. Whether to herself or her enemy was uncertain. "Do you begin to see now what the human race *cough* is capable of? I am Aoyama Tsuruko," she coughed again and blinked as her eyes began to tear up. Realization hit, and she pulled out a miniature gas mask and pressed it to her mouth, keeping the other hand on her sword and changing her stance to compensate. "I am Aoyama Tsuruko, a master of the Gods' Cry kendo school, and a retainer to His Imperial Majesty. It will take more than poison to *cough* defeat me."

"This is. Not. Poison," it gloated, the humming of its wings increasing. "The scales of. My wings. Are razor. Sharp. They are cut. Ting your. Body. Apart." Tsuruko's skin was beginning to itch, and a rash was spreading fast enough that she could see her skin redden. She realized with a sick worry that the wound across its thorax had already healed.

"Then I simply will have to—"

"Moon Tiara Magic!" Sailor Moon appeared on the scene, twisting her wrist as she threw the tiara so that it flew perpendicular to the ground instead of parallel.

"So. Slow." Buzrath lifted above the path of the disc's flight, pointing a stinger at the senshi. Then Sailor Moon flicked her wrist up.

"Screeeeee!" it trilled as the tiara changed paths, severing one of its side's wings, leg, and stinger. It tumbled to the ground and Tsuruko jumped at her chance.

"Demon. Slash!" She brought her sword down in what was traditionally her school's killing blow, bisecting it at what could be best described as its waist. It thrashed on the ground, screaming shrilly, but Tsuruko grimly noted that it was still alive. Then she saw the stubs of new limbs, and realized that it was healing. _This thing's regeneration is insane. I guess the only way to kill it is the head._ She readied her blade, but flinched away when a hand touched her arm. Her skin was getting worse from the youma's scales.

"Let me," Sailor Moon said gently. "My magic is made for this. Moon Tiara Magic." The glowing disk bisected Buzrath's head vertically and it exploded into dust. Tsuruko finally relaxed, slumping to the ground.

"My thanks."

"Are you alright?" Sailor Moon asked.

"I will be."

"Is everything safe in here?" asked Commissioner Yamada, flanked by two armed officers.

"Yeah, but I think she needs a doctor," Sailor Moon called back. Tsuruko tried to stand, and the blonde immediately took up a position as her crutch.

"My thanks. Good afternoon, Commissioner. I am Aoyama Tsuruko, one of the Imperial retainers, here at His Majesty's request to investigate the Sailors."

"Sailor Senshi, and we're called the senshi or a senshi. Not sailors. I've never even been on a boat, except for the paddle-boats at parks and stuff."

"As you say," Tsuruko chuckled. "Given that you are not arresting this young woman, may I assume you have recanted your previous orders?"

"That was an imposter, not me," Yamada said stiffly. "I was tied up in a closet when I wasn't being mind-raped for information. He has unfortunately escaped the building, but we are in pursuit. Disgustingly enough, the monsters' leader appears to be a human."

"I wish I were surprised," Tsuruko said dully.

"Excuse me!" called an officer from the hall. "The blue girl and priest need some help with another of the monsters!"

"I'm on it!" Sailor Moon raced out of the room. The two adults looked on and shared a laugh.

"I'm not sure how or why she does this," said Tsuruko. "But from what I've seen of her—"

"I'm glad it's her," finished Yamada.  
+++++++++++++++++++++

Now, who wants me to post the next chapter before next Saturday? I might, since this is a two-parter. On the flip-side, I'm losing the edge I have for writing ahead of schedule. Either way, tell me what you thought. How are the youma?


	12. Zoicite's Downfall part 2

I don't own Sailor Moon.  
++++++++++++++++

Half-a-dozen people were sitting around a table, with twice that number standing guard nearby. Tsuruko shared a look with Ken and spoke first.

"I am uncertain where to start. Would you like to begin?" she asked the two senshi.

"Well, okay. But I'll have to talk with L…my advisor, before I say too much," Sailor Moon hedged, glancing at Mercury. The woman sitting next to Yamada typed something down on her laptop.

"For now, just tell us what you can," Ken said gently. "What the monsters are and what they want would be rather important for us to know."

"Okay. The monsters are called youma. They work for a group called the Dark Kingdom, which is trying to take over the world."

"Who isn't?" sighed Tsuruko. "Can you tell us more about these youma? I have faced supernatural entities before, and the one I fought was absurdly difficult to kill, considering it's apparently low power level." Moon looked to Mercury.

"Youma are un-alive beings that can imitate life and sentience through the life-energy, or ki, that sustains them."

"I use ki to enhance my combat abilities. Would that have a positive or negative effect?"

"You would be able to hurt the youma, yes, but at the same time you would be giving it the energy needed to heal the damage and then some," the blue senshi calculated. "Unless enforced with some form of magic, it would take either _massive_ damage or starvation to kill a youma by mundane means. Shoving a hand-grenade down its throat, for instance, would be insufficient to put it down for good."

"A frightening foe," Ken said. "What about the Dark Kingdom?"

"I want to know why there appeared to be a human ordering around those monsters," Yamada added gruffly.

"The Dark Kingdom is led by a human sorceress-"

"Former human," interrupted Moon. "I don't think she's human anymore."

"Point. A formerly human sorceress named Beryl, who is served by four formerly human generals called the Shittennou, or Four Heavenly Kings."

"Quite a pretentious name."

"Usually we just refer to them as the Generals, though. The one you met was called Zoicite. We have also encountered Jadeite, who was behind the bus attacks and the candy store, but the other two remain mostly unknown entities."

"What kind of forces do they have?"

"In terms of number, unknown. However, we suspect their forces to be low, especially after Sailor M shut them down in England. If they had an army, they would be using it."

"Where is their base?"

"Unknown. We have only found them operating in London and Tokyo, which does not give us much information to go on. If we knew, we would try to take the fight to them."

"You said that Sailor M was also a member of your team?"

"Yes. You may have noticed a planetary theme among us. Sailor M is Sailor Mars, but was acting incognito and running interference. Thus, she did not use her full title at the time."

"How many of you senshi are there in total?"

"One for every planet, minus Earth, but plus Moon."

"Why not the Earth? For that matter, why this planet's moon, but not Io or Europa?" Mercury hesitated but Moon had a cover answer already prepared.

"I _would_ be Earth, except we're on Earth, so I can't," she babbled. "We can't get into the whys without saying too much, though. Sorry."

"Why are all of you not fighting here, if there are nine of you?" Moon held up a hand to tell an uncertain Mercury she'd take the question, and frowned as she thought about how to answer.

"I'm leaving some stuff out because I have too, but it's like this. There are going to be nine of us, _eventually_, but the others aren't ready to fight yet. Their powers aren't active, so they're no different than regular people."

"So you are regular people under the mask?"

"We're not talking about our identities," said Moon.

"I'll elaborate a little, just to spare you the effort of trying to search and failing," Mercury said. "Consider how many children go missing in Japan alone every year. Even more disappear worldwide. We could be any of them, from anywhere, and you don't know how long we've been gone, or what we look like under the mask. You won't find us."

"Your families don't know you're doing this?"

"You assume our families are alive to worry about us," Mercury deadpanned flatly. Moon frowned.

"I _don't_ want to talk about this," she said, subconsciously reinforcing it with her magic. Everyone felt the edge in her voice and unanimously decided to drop the subject.

"I suppose, until you can speak with your advisor, that only remaining question is what can we do to help?" said Ken.

"No money," said Moon immediately. "If you start giving us money then we just become your employees and that leads to all sorts of trouble. That being said, I do sort of feel guilty about things getting broken when we fight, so maybe some kind of fund to fix stuff? Selling Sailor Senshi stuff could probably bring in some money for it."

"That should be doable," Tsuruko said. "Is that really all? You don't need supplies, back-up, other resources?"

"Also, is there some way you can transfer your powers to other people? I assume they have to be passed along somehow," added Yamada.

"We don't need anything else right now," said Moon firmly, "and if there were a way to pass our powers on I still wouldn't do it right now."

"Why not?" asked Tsuruko. "you don't appear to enjoy fighting. Don't you want to put down your burden?"

"Let me tell you what I _don't_ want," Moon responded, and continued before anyone could object. "I don't want to pass the mantle on to anyone except a successor I've personally trained and chosen, and that's _years_ into the future. No matter how well-trained, or moral, or _whatever_ any government agent you'd suggest I pass them onto, they'd still be a government agent. The _Japanese_ government. I never want to take the risk that the senshi mantle ends up being used for _someone's_ good, instead of _everyone's_ good."

"That's not what I meant…"

"No, but it's what someone in power would have thought of after a while. Mercury took a shot to the _head_ from a sniper and didn't even bruise, and her fog is the perfect cover. My tiara can cut through steel like _butter_, and my scream can bring anyone and _everyone_ in hearing range to their knees if I want. I won't even begin to talk about what the other senshi can do."

"I would imagine it is somewhat frightening."

"Yeah. If a war breaks out, how long do you think it would take someone to think about putting us on the front lines? That's why I won't accept too much help from you unless we really, _really_ need it. We _can't_ be in your debt."

"That…is a good point," Tsuruko confessed, and Ken nodded in agreement. They knew their government and the people in it. Then there was a knock on the door.

"Come in." The door opened, and was an outcry of shock, everyone preparing for a possible fight.

"How did you get past security?" Yamada wondered.

"Tuxedo Kamen!" It was he. He looked rather singed and worn out, but he was there all the same.

"My apologies, but you have been in uniform so long, I thought I should check that you hadn't been captured," he said. "I would have come by earlier, since I apparently missed an important fight, but I had a fire-breathing lizard on my tail."

"Part human, part scaly thing with a tail, green and purple skin, red eyes?" Sailor Moon summed up.

"Yes, actually. And it could teleport, I think."

"That's the youma that caused the fires at the candy store," Moon said to the rest of the table. They were still busy examining Kamen.

"Who are you?"

"I am Tuxedo Kamen, protector of Sailor Moon," he said with a bow.

"He's on your side?" Yamada asked Moon.

"Sort of…"

"I fight at the behest of a lady who is the sworn enemy of the Dark Kingdom," Kamen, who was secretly Mamoru, elaborated flamboyantly. "At her request I aid and protect Sailor Moon in her fight against the darkness." _Wow, talking in the tux is strange. It's like a +5 flowery language bonus, _he thought_._

"It's an enemy mine thingy," Sailor Moon said. "If he were going to betray me I'd be dead already, so I think I know I can trust him."

"Our current theory," said Mercury, sending Kamen a questioning look, "is that he is a defector from the Dark Kingdom."

"What." Kamen's voice had lost most of its friendliness.

"There are two generals unaccounted for thus far, and other humans such as Ace potentially serving under them," explained Mercury. "We don't know your name, beyond what is obviously a false moniker, and you, Jadeite, and Zoicite have all demonstrated the ability to use flowers as weapons."

"I am in no way connected to the Dark Kingdom," he stated.

"Then what are you?"

"I…don't know," he sighed. "I don't have all of my memories, or know the explanation of my powers."

"So you could be a defector, got hurt when you defected, and lost some of your memories?" suggested Mercury.

"Or he could be a sleeper agent," said Yamada darkly.

"I sense no evil energy from him," volunteered Ken.

"I'm human," Kamen stated flatly. "I had a life and memories before the youma ever started showing up. Regaining my lost memories is part of why I'm helping, but I can remember more than a decade back. Just not my childhood."

"The Generals could also have had lives before they joined Beryl. In fact, I am almost positive that they did, as I knew Jadeite before he became evil," Mercury said with equal flatness. Kamen opened his mouth. Kamen closed his mouth.

"I'll do some soul searching and ask some questions," he finally conceded. "But I _want_ to be on your side, if it makes a difference."

"It makes all the difference in the world," Moon said with a flirtatious smile.

"This Jadeite fellow is one of the generals? And you know him?"

"It was a _long_ time ago," Mercury deflected hastily. An officer ran through the door, grabbing everyone's attention.

"Emergency! Sailor Moon—"

"Yes?" she interrupted. He trailed off, gawked at her, and hastily rethought what he was going to say.

"Someone that resembles Sailor Moon is leading a group of monsters in attacking Juuban Municipal Park!"

"On it!" The room erupted into motion.  
+++++++++++++++++

"I am Sailor Moon, worms! Bow before me or die!" Zoicite had interrupted an exercise group in the park, and people were running everywhere as he (disguised as a she) and his two remaining youma wreaked havoc. Normally, he would have tried for some form of strategy, or taken hostages, but he was too close to breaking down to think of it.

Empowering a youma not only permanently gives the youma a small piece of the source's power, but also a piece of their psyche, resulting in an intelligence increase. For the youma, at least. It was a stressful decrease for the source.

Losing six pieces of his mind so quickly, on top of the desperation and stress of his literal deadline was too much, and Zoicite was beginning to crack.

"Stop!" yelled the real Sailor Moon, arriving on the scene. _I don't see any bodies, so I think I'm not too late. Just let the others get in position…_ "You have attacked and deceived innocent people, and broken the peace and fun this park represents! I am the real Sailor Moon, and in the name of the Moon, I will punish you!"

"Evil Begone!" yelled Ken as he threw an ofuda at Zoicite. The crackle of gunfire filled the air, forcing Zoicite to raise a shield, which flickered and fizzled when the ofuda struck it, but didn't go out.

"Get her," Zoicite commanded. The lizard youma appeared before Sailor Moon in a whirl of flame.

"Die!" It immediately went for the throat and Usagi jerked back, catching the claw on her shoulder instead.

"Mercury Spray Shroud!" Unfortunately Zoicite had thought up a counter for this ahead of time.

"Glurg Fog," the Shadow Warrior burbled, exhaling a thick green miasma. Ami's eyes widened behind her visor.

"Don't breathe it in, it'll stop your lungs!" Ami yelled. And burst into flame as Honshen's eyes flashed. Usagi raced toward her screaming friend, only for a cloud of flower petals to cut her off.

"Your fight is with me," Zoicite gloated. Usagi stopped holding back.

"Mirror. Light." Zoicite prepared to teleport. "Psych!" Usagi jumped over the petals to her friend, who was being tended to by Ken, while Kamen and Tsuruko tried to hold off the other youma. Zoicite teleported on reflex.

"Gah!" he snarled, realizing the trick, and threw another cloud of petals at the human swordswoman. Glurg was in the way, and bellowed as the petals struck, but he didn't care. "Hold them down!"

"That hurt," Glurg complained, before spewing a geyser of liquid into the air. Most people got out of the way, but Kamen, Tsuruko, and Moon were all caught in the sickening rain. "Now you—"

"Honshen!" Zoicite commended.

"Huh? Wait!" Glurg began. "I'm still—" Honshen's eyes flashed and the area soaked by Glurg caught aflame. Including Glurg himself.

"Aqua Bubble Burst! Aqua Bubble Burst! Aqua Bubble Burst!" Ami spammed, getting off the ground. She put out her allies before they could be hurt badly, and seeing the screaming youma, felt a bit of pity. _I shouldn't but I can't leave anything like that. At least Moon's Tiara is quick and painless._ "Aqua Bubble Burst!" Glurg whimpered in pain as he was extinguished.

"Moon Tiara Magic!" Zoicite frowned, and pulled Glurg into the attack's path with a wave of his hand. Even injured and in pain, Glurg was still a Shadow Warrior, and it would take more than that to kill him. He batted it away with one arm, but let loose a horrific, gurgling scream when he did so.

"Get up," Zoicite snarled, kicking him. "Are you a Shadow Warrior or not?"

"I am," Glurg gasped, rising to its feet.

"Good. Hold them off while I move to the next phase of my plan." _Fighting a Shadow Warrior should tire them out more, even if they do kill it eventually. Meanwhile, with all of them tied down here, I can rally the public against them again, and set up an ambush. They'll run out of strength eventually._ Zoicite teleported away, taking Honshen with him, before Glurg could answer.

It looked at the forces arrayed against it. Usagi was burnt, beaten, bloody, and panting for breath, but she raised one arm and pointed at it.

"Mirror."

"I surrender."

"Liiii—what?"

"I surrender," Glurg repeated, lying down and resting its head on its hands. Or its forepaws, depending on whether it chose to walk on four or two legs. The rest of the battlefield just stared.

"Um…what do I do now?" Usagi asked. "I can't really dust him in cold blood if he isn't hurting anyone. Can I?"

"I have never encountered this situation either," Tsuruko admitted.

"Well we can't just let it go free," Yamada objected violently.

"I can just stay here," Glurg volunteered with a shrug. "You probably should stop whatever General Zoicite is planning."

"The second you leave he could rip our officers apart," objected Yamada again. It was healing, and they could literally see its skin patch up as they watched.

"I might be able to make a ward prison, but it seems powerful enough to break out," Ken said.

"It can obviously heal, so wounds won't slow it down," Tuxedo Kamen added. "I remember having fought him when there was the bus attacks, and now he is—or was, at least—as good as new."

"Why are you surrendering?" asked Usagi, cutting to the chase.

"I'm a Shadow Warrior. That means I'm supposed to be honored and _respected_ for my power and abilities, but Zoicite clearly doesn't give a damn about my life, so why should I help him?"

"Well, what are you going to do now?" Glurg shrugged.

"I don't care whether I go back to the Dark Kingdom or stay here, so I could help you if you want. I have information."

"I'm uncertain how accurately I can scan a youma, but he appears truthful," Ami volunteered, and frowned. "Why do you appear to generate your own energy? Most youma need to absorb energy from external sources."

"I'm a Shadow Warrior. That means I generate my own energy, and can use it to keep lesser youma alive."

"So you don't need to drain people's energy to survive?"

"No. I can get enough energy for my own needs from all around, and generate the rest."

"Then why is the Dark Kingdom draining energy at all, if they have you?" Usagi asked, worried.

"There are only three of us, and I only ascended a few days ago."

"Is that why you're smarter than when we fought?" Kamen asked. Glurg grumbled and glared at him balefully.

"Yes. I still hate you, by the way. Those flowers hurt."

"Okay, stop!" Usagi called. "We can't afford to stay here while Zoicite is off doing something. We have to stop him! You! What's your name?"

"Glurg."

"Okay… If you want us to trust you, you're going to come with us and help stop Zoicite. Then we'll decide what next."

"My pleasure," Glurg said maliciously.

"Mercury! Can you find Zoicite?" Ami began playing with the Mercury Computer.

"No, I…oh. Yes, actually. He's not even trying to hide. He's called another press conference."

"Let's go."  
+++++++++++++++

"There is truly no limit to the senshi's malice," the disguised Zoicite told the reporters. "Not only did these terrorists attack a police station and brainwash the officers there against the public, but they have now tried to do the same thing at police headquarters. I have no choice but to authorize and mandate the use of force against—" He was cut off as a drizzle of green liquid fell down on him and his secretary from above.

"Halt villain!" called Usagi. "You have deceived innocent people, impersonated and harmed upstanding members of the law, and all in all been a really mean and nasty person! I am Sailor Moon, leader of the Sailor Senshi, and a soldier of Love and Justice. For your crimes against all that is good in this world, and in the name of the Moon, I will punish you!"

"You see," Zoicite pointed. "The criminal returns to the scene of the crime, and—what is it!?" Zoicite whirled around to face Honshen, who had been tugging at his elbow. Honshen was back in youma form. "Why the hell did you drop…your…oh." He looked blankly at his body, which was undoubtedly _his_ body, and not the commissioner's.

"Do you see the true imposter here?" the real Yamada bellowed, having used Moon's speech to make his way to the podium. "Ladies and gentlemen, we still do not understand everything, but the government is now working alongside the senshi to bring this true threat to justice! However, to avoid being hurt, I must ask that everyone evacuate the room, now."

"Leave this to professional Devil Hunters," added Tsuruko, shuffling reporters toward the door.

"How did you remove my glamour?" Zoicite asked, still in shock. Honshen began looking around, trying to choose a target.

"That was me," gurgled Glurg, clinging to the wall above. "You left me for dead, so I defected."

"You—"

"Aqua Bubble Burst!"

"Moon Tiara Magic!"

The two spells crossed paths and hit Honshen simultaneously, and it collapsed into dust.

"Are you going to come quietly, Zoicite?" Usagi asked. He smiled, and then began laughing. Everyone began edging closer while staying on high-alert, when he pulled himself together.

"I have nothing to lose," he chuckled.

"Except your life," said Mercury.

"That didn't stop _you_ last time, little nymph," Zoicite replied. Power crackled around his hands as he called on the last dregs of his magic. Flower petals began to materialize in a cloud around him, and a spear of crystal appeared in his hands.

"Mirror Light Escalation!" Zoicite jumped straight up, higher than even Glurg, who was still on the wall, as Usagi's attack demolished the podium.

"Mercury Spray Shroud!" Fog spilled out below, blanketing the area. Zoicite attacked the one target he could still see, Glurg, driving his spear into the Shadow Warrior's torso. Then, as his first victim fell down into the fog, he attacked. Since his targets could be anywhere, he attacked everywhere.

Muffled shouts of pain were music to his ears as he sent petals into the cloud from all directions.

"Moon Tiara Magic!" Uasgi yelled, jumping off the wall towards him while he was still in the air, intending to use her tiara in close combat instead of throwing it. Zoicite wrapped his hand in dark power and dismissively caught the glowing weapon.

"Striking the Evil Behind!" Tsuruko called on her school's most elite technique, sending out a blast of ki that harmlessly passed through Sailor Moon and bit into Zoicite's chest. He flinched, not bracing for how quickly they were falling to the ground, and hit like a rock.

Now in the middle of the fog, he couldn't see a thing, but conjured a crystal dagger and stumbled towards where he thought Sailor Moon had landed. She was just getting off the ground when he found her, and his dagger bit into her shoulder. He'd been aiming for the neck, but…

Something slammed into the side of his head, and as he went tumbling he barely made out Mercury fumble the landing from her jump kick, ending up flat on her back. The fog was dissipating, and Sailor Moon was pointing at him as he stumbled back to his feet.

"Mirror Light Escalation!"

There were many options Zoicite still had as the first flash of pink gathered in her hands. He could still teleport.

He could simply dodge.

He could counter attack, hoping to kill Moon before the spell hit, or weaken the spell mid-casting.

He could attack the prone Mercury.

Or he could scream, and curse, and cry before he died.

He did none of these.

Instead, he let the crystal dagger fall from his hand, and spread his arms in welcome to his death. And before his vision was subsumed by pink, his eyes fell on Sailor Mercury, and he faintly remembered how they had been so long ago. _I wish we could have—  
++++++++++++++++++_

Ami as Sailor Mercury sat at a table with Ken, Tsuruko, and the typist from before. Luna was on a communicator, voice only, to help decide what they should say. After realizing that yes, that charred black skeleton was Zoicite, and yes she had done that to him, she spent ten minutes vomiting and dry-heaving, at which point she collapsed.

Ami had taken her across the rooftops to Naru's home, where she was laid out in the sun in Naru's backyard. They had also grabbed several mirrors to direct even more light onto their sleeping and injured friend, and her visor had told her that she would be fine, eventually. And now, here she was.

"Well, where should I begin?" Ami asked.

"Before anything else, I would like to know if Sailor Moon will be alright," Tsuruko asked.

"Physically, yes. Our healing powers will repair the damage, provided she remains in the light and gets plenty of food and rest. Psychologically, I am uncertain how she will react to the knowledge of having killed another human being, no matter how twisted and evil."

"That is never something to be taken lightly," agreed Ken, looking every one of his 55 years.

"I wish it had not been that way," said Luna over the communicator, "but at the same time I cannot regret that that monster is dead."

"Understandable," said Tsuruko. "Now, would you care to tell us more about the senshi?"

"Luna, how much should we say?"

"I would advise that we tell them nothing about us as we are. The commissioner said he was magically interrogated, so the Dark Kingdom might try that tactic again. However, there is still a lot we can tell them that the Dark Kingdom already knows, and they can accept or ignore what parts of it as they please."

"So, the Silver Millennium?"

"Yes."

"Alright. I would like to preface this by saying that I did not originally believe what I am about to tell you, and cannot offer any solid evidence beyond my own existence. In short, this is not the first time humanity has reached such cultural and technological heights, and in the past we were, in fact, even more advanced."

"Wait, don't tell me," said the typist, not looking up. "You are descendants of warriors from an ancient and highly advanced civilization that was wiped out eons ago."

"Fourteen-thousand years ago, but yes, basically. How did you know?"

"It was that, alien civilization, or alternate dimension," explained the typist.

"The first and second could both be considered accurate," said Mercury. "Fourteen-thousand years ago there was life on every planet and many of the moons. I still do not have all the details, so don't ask me how they survived on gas giants and such, but there was."

"Floating colonies, probably," said the typist.

"What governmental structures were there?" Tsuruko asked, ignoring the woman with the computer.

"Each planet had a world government, which all had formed a coalition that was led by the Lunarian government. The one exception was, oddly enough, Earth. Due to some bad blood, probably having to do with their proximity, Earth refused to trust the Moon, and kept only the barest diplomatic ties. Oh, also, most of the mentioned governments were some form of monarchy."

"Really? Democracy wasn't popular?"

"It has to do with how a planet acknowledges its ruling family," explained Mercury. "Also, our current epoch of democracy is relatively young, and arose from luck. Consider what our world would be like if the United States had lost its Revolutionary War. Europe would never have had the impetus to begin forming its own democracies, and the world would still be very colonial."

"A good point," agreed Ken. "Where do the senshi fit into this?"

"Well, first, you have to understand that planets themselves are alive, and have a level of magic all their own."

"Such as ley lines?"

"Bigger, but yes. Ley lines are like magical veins and arteries. When a planet comes under a single rule, it acknowledges the ruler by binding their lives to its own, giving them and their line a little of its own magic. What kind of magic varies from planet to planet. Mercury dealt with cold water, such as my fog, while Mars dealt with fire."

"Senshi are warriors who have been trained to use that magic as a weapon?"

"Not quite. The ruler of the Silver Millennium would appoint a senshi from each planet's royal family, and vastly enhance their ability to use planetary magic. I haven't been able to recover many details of the actual process, though, as the methods were highly confidential."

"Were all senshi female?"

"Yes. Not out of gender discrimination, but because there was some magical reason that women could handle the mantle, but men couldn't."

"Why?"

"Again, I don't know exactly what this reason is, but it was mentioned that it tied into the feminine ability to bear life, as infertile women couldn't serve as senshi. Also, senshi had to retire after reaching a certain age, for similar reasons," Mercury continued.

"Interesting… Do you know if there are any ruins that could back up this story?"

"No, I don't. Furthermore, after fourteen thousand years, it is likely that everything has been destroyed or eroded. I don't even have enough evidence to convince myself, and I _know_ it is true."

"What happened to this civilization, and how did it lead to you being a senshi here and now?"

"The Fall. Beryl, the leader of the Dark Kingdom, was originality a noblewoman from Earth. She was obsessed with the crown prince of Earth, but he was engaged to marry the crown princess of the Silver Millennium, in order to seal the diplomatic rift between their peoples. She made a pact with an otherworldly entity known as Metaria, and conjured forth an army of youma that _genocided_ the Silver Millennium. Only the fact that Earth was the staging point for the attack kept it habitable."

"And then?"

"The leader of the Silver Millennium, called Queen Serenity at the time, held a powerful magical talisman known as the Ginzuisho. It could do almost anything, at the cost of the wielder's life. When it became clear that the battle was lost, she used it to seal away the Dark Kingdom, but knew that the seal would eventually break, as is happening now. Thus, she reincarnated the senshi into the future so that we could fight the Dark Kingdom when they reappeared."

"You are one of these reincarnations?"

"Yes. That is why I said I knew Jadeite. We were rivals before he betrayed everyone, back in the Silver Millennium."

"Well, we'll have to think up a cover-story for the public," Tsuruko said with a sigh. "It's too unbelievable." Ken took over the questioning.

"How are you planning to stop this…Dark Kingdom?"

"I'll answer that," said Luna. "Queen Serenity also sent forward her daughter, who also has the ability to use the Ginzuisho. If we find her, she should be able to destroy the Dark Kingdom. Especially considering how much weaker they are now than then."

"This is weak?"

"They no linger have armies of youma, so their highest officers have to fight on the front lines. What's more, if Metaria were awake and active, we would all be dead already, without the Moon Princess."

"What a nice thought. Moon Princess? Is Sailor Moon—"

"It was almost unheard of for heirs to serve as senshi," cut off Luna. "Mercury, for instance, was something like the ninth or tenth in line for the throne. Mars was sixth, I believe. I can't speak with _absolute, one-hundred percent _certainty, but no, Sailor Moon almost certainly would not have been Princess Serena. That was one of the first things she asked me, too." There was a pause as everyone digested this information, broken only by the clicking of the typist.

"But there's still a slight probability?"

"I like to think that I would have recognized the Princess if I saw her, or would at least have noticed by now. Also, I can't imagine why she would be expected to serve on the front lines of a war, as a future ruler."

"Fair enough. What now?" asked Tsuruko. "Given my own lack of success against youma, you are handling this better than we could, and any reinforcements would likely be ripped apart by the youma they were supposed to help fight."

"Information is always nice," said Luna. "If you could keep us informed of patterns of disappearances, or people coming to the hospital for exhaustion, we could track it to back to a potential attack. Also, a training area, perhaps?"

"Training area?"

"Sailor Uranus is a very competent combatant, and is giving the others lessons, but these lesson have been occurring in deserted areas late at night. A private area we could use during the day would be a blessing, and would let the girls get more sleep. Also, reinforcements could be very useful for evacuating civilians from the combat zones. And any leads on finding the Ginzuisho or the Moon Princess could be the difference between life and death."

"I'll arrange everything I can," assured Tsuruko. "In the meanwhile, Sailor Moon also expressed interest in a fund to reimburse people whose property is caught in the cross-fire. That is do-able, but politicians will throw a fit if they have to put in a senshi-tax, or such."

"Moon mentioned merchandise," Mercury said. "She got caught by the idea of selling dolls or a senshi guidebook some while ago, and actually asked me if I could make a video-game that had the rest of the senshi, not just Sailor M."

"That…sounds promising."

"When she asks, it is hard to say no," Ami said with a smile, fiddling with her mask. "I've been working on the game and book outline in passing, and if I buckle down I could give you something in a week or two."

"That fast?"

"You have?" Luna asked.

"Something, in this case meaning a very rough outline, but yes." She blushed at the looks. "The game was a good exercise to practice my programming skills. The book is mostly an explanation and outline of the game, using what information on the other senshi I could find that wasn't classified."

"Two weeks still seems frighteningly fast."

"My computer is rather more advanced than most of what you have," Mercury understatedly admitted. "Is there anything else? I would rather like to return and sleep for a week."

"I think we can call these meeting to a close."

"What about the youma? Glurg?"

"Thus far he has been co-operative, and I have layered his cell in wards, which he did not object to," explained Ken. "If he begins acting up, is there some way we can contact you?"

"The communicator I'm using connects directly to me," said Luna. "Keep that and contact me if you need help."

"Very well. Thank you for your service, sailor senshi. Good Luck."  
+++++++++++++++

"Assemble!" Three figures teleported into the gloomy cavern that served as Beryl's throne room. Kunzite was the only one missing. Aside from the subject of the meeting, of course. "Zoicite is dead," Beryl said without build-up. No one said anything. She tossed the piece of his namesake gemstone off to the side. "He fought the senshi and failed one time too many. I suggest that you not do the same. Report."

"I have recently been training Shadow Warriors Tethys and Castorand in anti-senshi tactics. When he returns from his mission I will do the same with Glurg, if your majesty has no objections."

"Glurg's whereabouts are unknown at the moment. I assume that the senshi slew him, but I cannot yet be certain. However, as long as the other Shadow Warriors are not damaged in your training, I have no objection."

"Perrrfect," the figure…purred. (Is there a better word?)

"Nephrite. What more has your scrying discovered?"

"Much more your majesty. I have, roughly, the location of the Ginzuisho." Beryl's half-lidded eyes shot open.

"Speak. _Now_!"

"At the Fall of the Silver Millennium, the White Witch realized that the Silver Crystal, as it was, would not survive into this era unmolested. According to the stars, she broke it into its original components, the seven rainbow crystals."

"I had not known of this," Beryl muttered to herself, and turned to her pet traitor.

"Nor did I, your majesty. Everything I learned at Serenity's court told me that the Ginzuisho was one object, and had been as long as it had existed."

"Most likely," Nephrite explained, "it was kept within the royal family and passed down by word of mouth. However, that is not the most interesting thing I discovered, my queen."

"You know the crystals' locations?" Beryl asked eagerly.

"In a sense. To digress for a moment, does her majesty remember the original seven Shadow Warriors?"

"Of course. What does that…seven youma and seven crystals. There is a connection, isn't there?"

"Yes, your majesty. When Serenity was sealing us away, she realized that sealing the Shadow Warriors with us would keep too many youma from starvation, and possibly leave us enough power to break her seal early. At the same time, however, she could not simply kill them, for reasons unknown."

"No doubt her own weakness. So?"

"So, much as she sent the senshi to be reincarnated, she sent the Shadow Warriors to be reincarnated in this day and age as humans, as well. Concealed within each reincarnation is one of the rainbow crystals. Thus, if we find and awaken these reincarnations, we get back a Shadow Warrior and gain a rainbow crystal."

"Wonderful," Beryl hissed. "Do you know how to find our lost comrades?"

"At the moment, my queen, the only recourse I have is to scry for them. It would be easier if our Great Leader was awake, as the Shadow Warriors are her children, but we do not have that option available at the moment.

"Actually, we might," objected Jadeite smugly. He produced his amulet, and it began leaking tendrils of power. "Zoicite's _unfortunate_ demise accomplished something other than the purging of a weak link. The senshi were so obsessed with stopping him that my flower-selling operation has spent the day unmolested, and I have laid the ground-work for later operations in preparation for when they do eventually interfere."

"Wonderful, Jadeite. Give it here. With our Great Ruler so close to awakening, this may well be enough to tip the scales." The General conjured up the gathered energy, and sent it streaming into the mountain of bones.

The cavern shuddered as Metaria feasted, before finally it stabilized again. The assembled forces waited with baited breath, but nothing occurred. Finally, Beryl sighed in defeat.

"Blast and blight! Still not enough! How much more energy does our Leader need?"

None, My Loyal Subjects. I Am Awake.  
+++++++++++++++

Extra: the previous generation (the senshi before these ones)

**Mercury  
****Name: **Lerinda

**Appearance:** Blue eyes and black hair. 5' 11" and 165 lbs. She commonly wore her hair in a bun, with hairpins that doubled as spikes or lock-picks. Well-muscled.

**Rank:** Second cousin of King Hermes. (His mother's cousin's daughter)

The former leader of the previous generation of Inner Scouts, Lerinda was a skilled leader and tactician, if slightly lacking in people skills. She was very much the 'ice-queen' stereotype, and when thawed she was slightly brash and uncouth. While competent all around, her greatest skill was with weapons: primarily spears and swords. Reflecting this, her favorite (though not most powerful) spell was the _Frigid Lance_, with which she conjured icicles shaped into weapons.

Her greatest achievement in her career is often considered to be her almost single-handed subjugation of the Dirae cult. These were a criminal group of sorcerers who used religion to gather followers, and magically modified their bodies for their own purposes. Such modifications mainly took the form of hybridization (fusing humans with animals or _plants_) or altering their physiology to enhance magical abilities. The cult came to the law's attention when they kidnapped innocents for guinea pigs to perfect their methods. The cult somehow managed to kidnap Mars, and Mercury personally led the counter-strike. While her support engaged the mass of cultists, she by-passed the crowd and faced down the five leader, killing two and incapacitating the other three.

She chose to retire after the Aranea incident, having lost her will to continue her duties. She never married, but rumors began when she chose to retire to Mars, rather than her home planet or Lunaris. Nothing was ever proven however, and the rumors could not agree on what was rumored.  
+++++++++++++++++

Whoops. Metaria's awake. Something wicked this way comes. What do you think of the extra?


	13. Waking up

I don't own Sailor Moon, or any of the series I reference. Count them all, I dare you.  
++++++++++++++

"Blast and blight! Still not enough! How much more energy does our Leader need?"

None, My Loyal Subjects. I Am Awake.

The voice rumbled though the room like an earthquake, and everyone fell to their knees. Even Beryl.

My Strength Is Still Little, And I Shall Sleep Again Soon, But I Wake Now. Speak To Me.

Beryl, still kneeling, teleported in front of the throne. "Oh Great Leader Metaria. We are making efforts to bring you both the energy and the Ginzuisho you desire, but our efforts are stymied by the Sailor Senshi."

Were They Not Killed In Battle? No. I Remember. The White Witch Sent Them Forward To Be Reincarnated When She Imprisoned Me. But If They Were Slain Once They Can Be Slain Again. What Of The Silver Crystal?

"Great Metaria, it was split into seven parts. Each part is concealed within a human who is one of your Shadow Warriors reincarnated."

My Children Live? Bring Them To Me, That The Silver Crystal May Be Reformed Into My Possession.

"Yes my queen, but the going will be slow. If you would aid us in the search we could find it quite quickly." There was a long pause and Beryl feared she had overstepped. Then there was a rumbling reply.

Yes. I Have Strength Enough For This. Which Of You Will Lead The Search?

"I will, Great Ruler," Nephrite said, standing. "My scrying will show me the Shadow Warriors' locations."

Power Remembers Power. Blood Remembers Blood. Take This.

Gales of shadow rushed forward and swirled in a storm around Nephrite, condensing into a black crystal that he plucked from the air.

When You Find My Children, That Black Crystal Will Call Them Back To My Banner. Now, I Rest. Bring Me More Energy, That I May Fully Reawaken, And Spread My Dominion. Across. The. Eeeeaarrth…

As the eldritch being returned to slumber, its servants rose to their feet.

"You have your missions," said Beryl. "Prepare our troops, capture more energy, and return our lost brethren to us. Go, and do not disappoint."  
+++++++++++++++

"Where am I?" Usagi wondered to herself. She looked around. She was standing on the wooden porch of what appeared to be an old temple. Spreading away from the porch was an endless field of flowers of all shapes, colors, and sizes. There were roses, daisies, daffodils—and she didn't know how to identify any flowers beyond those three. She sniffed the air. Then a smile spread across her face and she sniffed again. The air was heavenly, and she drew in a deep, cleansing breath. This seemed too good to be true.

Maybe it was. She could feel the wood beneath her feet and smell the flowers. At the edge of her vision she could she vague figures in the field, but she couldn't hear them or make out what they were doing. She tried pinching herself. She could feel it, but vaguely, as though she was pinching through a coat. Even digging her nails in didn't cause any pain.

"Is this a dream?"

"The answer to that," said a voice behind her, "is somewhere between yes and no." She turned around, slowly. Behind her stood a young man—a boy, even—wearing a priest's robe. "In answer to your first question," he continued, "you are in Elysian, the land of dreams. Welcome." He bowed.

"So I _am_ dreaming," she clarified.

"In a sense. Elysian is a place of power on the Earth, where the people of Earth's dreams flow together. I am Helios, high priest of Elysian, and guardian of the people's dreams."

"So _am_ I dreaming?"

"You are in a dream, yes, but this place would be real even if you were awake. You are not dreaming of this place. Think of it, instead, that the Earth herself is dreaming of you."

"Freaky. How do I get home?"

"I will return you there before sunset, as only the priesthood may stay in Elysian overnight." He gestured toward the sun, which was still high in the sky. "However, you are here for a reason. Someone wishes to speak with you."

"Do I have to?" she asked warily.

"No. But you will want to, I assure you. If it makes you feel better, they are dead, and as such cannot hurt you."

"Y-you mean a g-g-ghost!"

"I suppose. The realm of dreams is halfway between the living and the dead. Would you follow me, Sailor Moon?"

"I-I'm not sure I w-want to talk t-to a gho—waaaaiiit. You called me Sailor Moon. How did you know that? Is this someone from the Silver Millennium?"

"Yes," he said, and walked away. She followed, since she didn't feel threatened. The temple was much larger than it seemed, and the layout didn't feel quite right. She walked through many different rooms in seemingly no order, and came out in places that didn't quite fit. At one point, they turned, walked through only a single, small room, and ended up on the other side of the temple. They then turned back and walked in the exact opposite direction down a long hallway with many doors for five minutes before ending up on the other side of the temple.

They climbed a thousand stairs out of a basement they never entered. They walked unerringly through a series of identical rooms. They twisted around and turned more corners than any building should have.

She had almost had enough when he walked into a room and immediately doubled back and walked out, but held her tongue. Different place, different laws. Even for the laws of physics, she guessed.

"We have arrived," he said, and slid open a door. Usagi walked in and saw a small table and tea set with two chairs. One of them was empty, waiting for her to fill it. In the other was a willowy woman in a plain white dress. She had silver hair and a kind smile. Usagi's memory hit her like a hammer.

_Queen Serenity._

She dropped to her knees. "Your Majesty! I never, uh, I mean," she babbled.

Serenity laughed. "Peace, my child. I am dead, and we are not at court. Have a seat and share a drink with me." Usagi dragged herself over to the chair and sat, and the late queen poured her a steaming cup of green tea. "Drink."

"Th-thank you." Usagi gulped it down, relishing the blaze of heat it left, and felt calmness take a hold of her. "Why?"

"I am here to give you information and aid that you will need to face the Dark Kingdom and save humanity," Serenity explained. "Most importantly, you need to know of the Ginzuisho?"

"Yes! Please!"

"When Beryl invaded, she and the generals focused on Lunaris, as that was where the center of our power was. However, Metaria itself flew to the other worlds first, both to drain them of life and keep reinforcements from reaching us. Leading the assault on the other planets were Metaria's strongest children, the seven Shadow Warriors."

"Like Glurg?"

"Glurg?" Serenity frowned and stared at Usagi before comprehension dawned. "No, he must be new. Though I admit, I never thought I would see the day when a youma surrendered peacefully."

"Did you just read my mind?"

"Yes. Now, back then there were seven Shadow Warriors. When I was sealing the Dark Kingdom away I knew I could not leave them in the prison as well, or the Dark Kingdom would be too strong when they broke free. At the same time, I had not the strength to destroy them. So I transformed them into human souls and sent them forward to be reborn, much as you were."

"Okay…so, Ginzuisho?" Serenity laughed.

"Well, I did tell you not to stand on ceremony. Yes, the Ginzuisho. It was too powerful, and I knew that it would never reach you in this era if I left it in one piece—it would be sensed and stolen by some petty sorcerer long before that. So I broke it down into the pieces it was originally made from, which we call the seven rainbow crystals. Each crystal I sealed with a Shadow Warrior."

"Okay, so how do I get them now? How do I find them! Or the Moon Princess!"

"To begin with, the Ginzuisho was forged from eight crystals, not seven." She conjured an image in the air of seven fist-sized crystals floating in a circle around a bright spark. Slowly, they all grew larger, and Usagi saw that the spark was in fact a silvery white crystal the size and shape of a D-8 die, glowing like the sun. Then the seven rainbow crystals blurred together and wrapped around the central crystal, melting into what was unmistakably the Imperial Silver Crystal. The Ginzuisho.

"Whoa." She reached out to grab it, only to pout as her hand passed through the image, which Serenity snuffed out with a gesture. "Aw…"

"The Shadow Warriors each have a rainbow crystal, and my daughter has with herself the eighth, central piece, which is necessary to unite the rainbow crystals back into the Ginzuisho."

"'kay. So _how_ do I find them?"

"With this. Helios has kept it all these years at my request, ready for this day." Serenity nodded, and Helios stepped forward, holding a cloth-wrapped item, which he placed into her hands. It was surprisingly heavy, and Usagi unwrapped it to find another blast from the past.

"The royal scepter?" It was. A silver rod topped by a gold crescent, in which there was an indent where the Ginzuisho would rest, and inscribed all over with runes and symbols. She received a flash of memory: Queen Serenity holding the scepter as it shone with power. "Am I even _allowed_ to have this?" It was an artifact of the royal family.

"You are if I say you are. Also, you are of the royal bloodline, which is why you can be Sailor Moon. My cousin was your predecessor, you know? Also…" Queen Serenity trailed off and sighed. "The Silver Millennium is dead, and with it the rules and traditions of the time. The future is in _your_ hands, Usagi." She clasped her hands around Usagi's to make a point, but the blonde barely felt them. It was as though she were being grabbed by the wind.

"I-I won't let you down!"

"You couldn't if you tried," Serenity assured her. "I will always be proud of you. The scepter will react when in the presence of a crystal carrier, and fate itself will bring the crystal carriers into contact with you."

"Okay. Now how do I get it _out_?"

"That…is the hard part." Serenity sighed and looked away guiltily. "Usually I could teach you the spells for this, but you have neither the time, nor the prerequisite training at the moment. So I will be forced to imprint them, instead."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"I will quite literally be shoving the knowledge into your mind, and warping your magic to make casting possible. Your body will eventually acclimate on its own, but until that happens using this magic will be painful and tiring."

"That doesn't matter! If it helps people, I'll do it," she swore. The phantasmal woman smiled.

"I am so proud of you," Serenity said and sobbed, a tear leaking from her eye. "Since I will be inside your head anyway, I can also help ease your nightmares," she added. She touched a finger to her tear, and touched it to Usagi's forehead. The world twisted and spun for a moment.

"Ugh." Usagi fiddled with the scepter while she recovered her balance. "Hey, how am I going to bring this back to my body? It's a dream, right?"

"You will find it in your subspace pocket when you awake. Also, it has codes that will give Mercury more than basic access to her computer."

"Right! So, uh, can I ask a sort of personal question?"

"We have covered everything necessary. Ask away, my child."

"Why me?"

"Why you what, my child?"

"Why was I leader of the senshi? Why was I a senshi at all! Ami, Luna, and Naru all think I'm doing great, but I'm not. It's hard. I could see Ami was at home with being a senshi almost right away, and so was Haruka, but I only started to feel comfortable with it after _weeks_ of staying up half the night! Ami's really smart, and Haruka's really tough, and Sailor M is just plain amazing, but I'm nothing special. I'm a crybaby who's in constant danger of flunking out, and a klutz, and—"

"_Enough,_" Serenity said forcefully, and Usagi froze at the edge in her voice. "You are all those, perhaps, but they are not bad things. You are also, kind, beautiful, energetic, inspiring, and loving, and anyone who knows you will tell you so."

"I…If you say so. So why was I Sailor Moon? Shouldn't it be easier?" Serenity sighed.

"Rest assured, that you were chosen as Sailor Moon by me for good reason. Your magic was nothing short of amazing, and you were…good enough at fighting and thinking. The reason you feel uncomfortable as a senshi, and why your powers are growing more slowly than your fellows', is because you were very new to the job when Beryl attacked in force. It was probably her opening attack, in fact."

"What was?"

"My cousin, Forta, was your predecessor as Sailor Moon. She was the second daughter of my father's younger brother. However, she died—or was assassinated by Beryl—less than a _month_ before the end. You earned your position as Sailor Moon, I assure you, but you were very new to it at the time. Your powers are still developing, while the others are merely regaining what they had when they died."

"I'm, sorry," said Helios, stepping forward. "But it grows late, and I must return the young lady to her home, while you must soon return to yours."

"Huh? Wait, but I'm—" Usagi began, but Helios put his hand on hers, and the world blurred away.  
+++++++++++++++

"Wait!" Usagi shouted, bolting upright. She was lying on a lawn chair in a familiar backyard, and for some reason there were mirrors propped up all around her. She winced at the glare, looked around, and saw Naru coming out of her house. "Damn! I liked that dream!"

"Usagi! You're awake," her friend cried, and pulled her into a hug. Usagi flinched as her body protested.

"Naru, I love you too, but I hurt," she pleaded.

"Ah, sorry."

"That's better," she sighed. "It's okay. I was just having a freaky dream. Wait." She dug into her subspace pocket, and the Moon Scepter appeared in her hand.

"What's that?"

"Ancient magical thingy. Can you get Luna? She needs to hear about this."

"She's with Ami; they'll be back here in a few minutes."

"Great." Her stomach gurgled. "Um, heh heh heh?"

"I'm on it," Naru promised, and had produced a tray of sandwiches from inside within a few minutes. "We knew you'd be hungry so we were prepared. That's why Ami and Luna left—they went on a grocery run for me."

"Fnx," Usagi mumbled through her already stuffed mouth, having cleaned off a quarter of the plate. She saw how Naru was looking at her and shifted, leaving some space beside her on the chair. When Naru didn't immediately sit down Usagi grabbed her and hauled her down, wrapping an arm around her best friend, and shoving part of a sandwich in her mouth.

The redhead smiled around her mouthful, and they stayed like that for several minutes, saying nothing. Usagi's arm itched a little from Naru's scratchy woolen sweater, and ached from a scabbed over cut or three, but it would take far more than that to separate them.

"Naru? Naru, where are you? How's—you're awake!" Ami yelled, coming out of the house after dropping the bags inside, and rushing over. Luna followed, and the next few minutes were full of hugs and laughter. Usagi finally waved around the Moon Scepter, and caught Luna's attention.

"_Where did you get that!"_ Usagi swallowed her last mouthful and burped.

"'scuse me. I had this really weird dream, where I met Queen Serenity—"

"_You met Queen Serenity!"_

"—and she gave it to me to help."

"…Usagi. Tell me _everything_."

"Duh. I was planning on it." And she did. Luna had never heard of Elysian, and Ami couldn't find it, even with the greater access to the Mercury computer she now had, but the evidence was there, so they decided not to worry. They passed around the scepter and marveled. "So what did I miss?" Usagi asked.

"Well, Glurg has behaved thus far, and he appears to have been genuine."

"Cool. We should ask him more about what a Shadow Warrior is, and stuff."

"He could very well prove to be a wealth of information on the Dark Kingdom, yes. Also, I began working towards that fund you mentioned, to pay people who suffer collateral damage in our fights. The government isn't giving us money directly, just like you wanted. They are subsidizing senshi merchandise instead. They'll take back the cost from the revenue, and then the net gain goes partly to the fund and partly to funding more merchandise."

"Cool! What sort of stuff?"

"Action figures, to begin with. I'll just give them general descriptions, which won't be enough for people to recognize us. Also, the guidebook seems like a good idea."

"What are we going to say in it? Are we just going to tell everyone about the Silver Millennium?"

"I'm not certain if that would go over well," Ami admitted. "I'm am uncertain how well that was believed by Tsuruko and Ken, and they met us in person."

"I know," said Naru. "Include a disclaimer saying that some facts have been altered for the sake of your safety. Also, while you can't put in too much about senshi we don't know about, like Neptune or Pluto, we can say whatever we want about _previous_ senshi. I bet there are records of them on your computer. Even if we make it up, who will call us on it?"

"That is a viable idea."

"Sounds good to me."

"No objection," Luna agreed. "However, I am a bit anxious about Ami's game idea."

"Game? Wait, did you actually start that?" Usagi asked eagerly.

"Um…a little. I may have embellished my progress slightly, but I have the outlines for stats that the various characters could have. However, I was think that it might be best if, rather than put us in as characters, we could have people design their own senshi. I'm going to have to make it much different than real life, but I could do it if I rush."

"Making your own senshi sounds good to me," Usagi agreed. "That way Zoicite can't just buy a copy and find out all our secrets." Everyone else blinked at her observation.

"I never thought of that."

"Oh my."

"Good thinking, Usagi. And I'm glad you've mostly recovered from the battle." This time Usagi blinked at Luna's comment.

"Um...Yeah, I guess. I'm still sore and stiff like you wouldn't believe, but…" Her face blanked. "Zoicite."

"Oh, shit, she's not all right! You and your big mouth!"

"I didn't know!" Luna yelped. Usagi sucked in a shaky breath, staring at nothing.

"Usagi, it's okay," Naru tried to persuade her as she swayed like a leaf. "It wasn't your fault, and you are not a bad person."

"You are still our friend, and we still love you, and you _deserve_ that love," Ami agreed. Usagi took another shuddering breath.

"I'm…not okay. But I'm not horrible. Queen Serenity said she would help me with the nightmares, and I guess she helped with that, too." She shivered again. "Can we go inside? I've got senshi protections, but I can still see my breath, and Naru's wearing a sweater."

"Yes, lets."  
+++++++++++++

Usagi walked into the Crown Arcade feeling as though she were in the Twilight Zone. She'd spent her weekend being shot at and nearly killed, and now she had spent a day in school like nothing was wrong. She was still on high alert from yesterday, jumping at shadows, and even though she knew Ami was with her, she almost screamed when the bluenette put a hand on her shoulder.

"You can relax," Ami assured her. "We're safe, remember?"

"Yeah. I'm just still jumpy, that's all. Shake time!" She bounced over to the counter in front. "Hi Motoki! Strawberry milkshake please." She dropped the money on the counter as he smiled.

"Sure, thing Usagi. How was your weekend? You didn't get caught up in any of the senshi madness, did you?" Her smile went strained for a moment.

"Senshi madness? I haven't been keeping up with the news, 'toki. I was locked up most of the weekend. What happened? I mean, I heard that the guy wanted to arrest the senshi, but…"

"Well apparently, the monsters that the senshi are fighting are called youma, and one of the things they can do is impersonate people. One of them impersonated the police commissioner and issued orders for the senshi to be arrested. Some people even think that he tried to have them assassinated by a special-forces sniper, but there's a blackout on that kind of information. The senshi found out, freed the real commissioner, and fought back."

"Wow…what happened?"

"No one got seriously hurt," said Crane Game Joe from behind them startling everyone, "but some rooms got trashed while they were fighting. The government has apparently formed an alliance with the senshi. Some people say this went as high as the Emperor himself!" Usagi was busy recovering from the scare he gave her, and it took her a moment to realize he was holding a plushy. "I have to run to class, but here, have an Asuka," Joe said, handing her the redheaded toy before walking out the door.

"Thanks Joe," she called.

"_I am Aoyama Tsuruko, one of the Imperial retainers, here at His Majesty's request to investigate the Sailors,"_ Usagi remembered. _She did say something like that. Wow. It's sort of scary that we're getting that much attention._

"Wow," Usagi said idly, and busied herself with downing her milkshake.

"It does seem that the world is changing," Ami commented, drinking her own vanilla milkshake.

"Good afternoon, Odango," said Mamoru, sitting down next to her. She only barely kept from screaming with her mouth full. "I'm surprised to see you here." Usagi wrinkled her nose, stuck her tongue out at him, and turned back to her milkshake.

"Good afternoon," Ami said politely.

"Mamoru, what's up? I haven't heard from you all weekend," Motoki commented, handing him a coffee before he could order.

"Sorry about that, Motoki. Busy weekend. Hey, Odango, isn't it a bit cold out for a milkshake? They say we're going to get snow sometime in the next week."

"It's never too cold for a milkshake!" she declared.

"Meh, whatever. I'd warn you about brain freeze, but _you_ don't have to worry." She stuck her tongue out at him. "Motoki, you excited?"

"Of course," he said with a brilliant smile. "We haven't seen each other in so long, I can't wait. We're planning to spend the entire holidays together, and we're going to meet each other's family, too."

"Wait. What? What am I missing?" Usagi asked, looking from one to another.

"Motoki's girlfriend is coming back for the winter holidays," Mamoru said.

"You have a girlfriend!" she yelped accusingly. It didn't hurt as much as it would have a month ago, but she still wasn't completely over her crush.

"Yeah, duh. Don't you remember Reika?" he asked, oblivious to her discomfort. "You only knew her most of the summer and last spring." Usagi had met the older girl nine or ten months ago, and had in fact latched onto her as sort of a role model for a little while. If you could call hero-worship the same as latching on.

Reika was mature, beautiful, intelligent, witty, graceful, motivated, and charming—in short, everything Usagi saw herself as lacking that she wanted to be when she grew up. She had known that Reika and Motoki were dating over the summer, and hadn't been able to bring herself to disapprove. "I knew you _were_ dating, but I sort of thought you'd broken up after she stopped coming to the arcade at the end of the summer."

"No, though we considered it. Reika's participating in a yearlong study abroad program in Mali. We decided to give a long-distance relationship a try, so we've been sending letters and occasionally skyping."

"Oh." Usagi hadn't been able to dislike Reika before, and she didn't even want to try now. She sighed in dismayed acceptance, and then perked up. "When is she getting back? I want to ask her what everything is like!"

"Less than two weeks, if the weather or politics don't interfere."

"Awesome! Ami, I'll have to introduce you to her. Reika is really awesome." _Hey… She's really awesome. She's showing up in my life. She's got some incredible skills. She's a she. I wonder if she's another senshi? Probably one of the outers, like Haruka. Speaking of…_ "Hey, jerk-wad, how's Haruka doing? I haven't had a chance to see her yet. Any change?"

"That's what I was going to tell you when I showed up. She woke up early this morning." Usagi paused as this computed. She then shot to her feet and grabbed Ami. "Awesome! Come on, we should go visit heeeerrr, ow, ow, ow!" Mamoru had grabbed one of her streamers of hair while she was trying to drag Ami out the door.

"Slow down, will you?"

"Let go! Jerk!" He did.

"Well, if you'll wait a second I was going to offer to drive you there. I need to deliver some classwork from today, anyway." Usagi and Ami shared a look. It would be convenient, but if he was there then they couldn't discuss senshi business.

"Thank you for the offer, but we have some other things we should do before we visit," Ami said, and Usagi nodded.

"Yeah. We'll show up later. But thanks for offering." She smiled and then stuck out her tongue. "Jerk." The girls slipped out the door before Mamoru could respond.

"What's up with them?" he wondered.

"They're girls, and in high school," Motoki replied with a grin. "I couldn't always understand them when I was their age, and I can't now, either."

"Too true," Mamoru agreed.

"Speaking of which, Mamoru are you a kindergartener or something? I mean, really. Pulling her pigtails?"  
+++++++++++++

"Luna, any news?" Usagi asked her communicator as she and Ami rode the bus to the hospital. "Because we have some. Haruka's awake! We're going to go fill her in at the hospital."

"You're going to the hospital? Good. After you fill in Haruka, transform and try to find the swordswoman, Tsuruko. We believe there's been another attack, as there are over a dozen cases of people coming into the hospital completely exhausted or comatose. She's waiting there, as we don't have any leads aside from the victims."

"Another attack! Don't we ever get a break?"

"I'm afraid not. This is probably Jadeite again, using the chaos Zoicite created to work uninterrupted. Maybe Mercury can track the flow of energy with her visor."

"It's possible," Ami allowed. "I may be able to triangulate, or determine another possibility on site. Are you okay, Usagi?" The blonde's face had gone blank for a few moments, and then she shook it off.

"Yeah, sorry. Memory dump. Apparently, one of the things I can do with the scepter is restore other people's energy, so we can wake them up and ask where they were when they were drained."

"An impressive ability," Luna said. "For now, I leave this in your capable hands, girls." She clicked off the communicator just in time for them to get off the bus.

"Lead the way, Ami," Usagi chirped. It took less than five minutes to make their way to Haruka's room. They had a brief scare where they rounded a corner and almost walked into a bandaged Tsuruko, but the swordswoman didn't look twice at them after both sides apologized. Another three corridors, and they walked into Haruka's room. The blonde glanced up at the opening door and smiled.

"Koneko! Blue! It's great to see you! Is everything alright?" Code for: is the Dark Kingdom under control? The two girls rushed over and hugged her, careful not to aggravate any injuries.

"The past few days have been hectic," Ami admitted, "but it all has turned out to be for the best."

"Yeah," Usagi choked out, tearing up. "Everything's going to be okay. Don't ever scare us like that again. Got that? It's an order, and if you disobey, then in the name of the moon, I'm going to punish you!"

"Ma'am, yes ma'am!" Haruka saluted with a playful grin. "So, what have I missed? Did you guys kick Zoicite's ass, or that Jadeite bastard?" Usagi choked up again, and Ami flinched. "Guys? What happened?"

"It would take too long to tell you right now," Ami said. Usagi flicked her wrist and pulled her communicator out of her sub-space pocket.

"Here, Luna will fill you in," she said. "We actually have to go investigate an attack, so get well soon, and you can help us out later."

"I'm fine now," Haruka complained. "Just get me the stupid pen and I'll bust out of here."

"_No."_ Usagi's quiet voice rang with power, and Haruka almost flinched away. "You will stay here and rest until the doctors say it is safe for you to leave. That is an order. I will not risk losing you just because you got impatient."

"I, but, you're covered in bandages, too! Shouldn't you be resting?" Haruka gawked at her, since the shorter blonde was, in fact, still stiff and sore from the day before.

"One: I heal much faster than you. I heal the fastest, just like Ami's armor is the strongest, and you hit the hardest. Two: I've been doing this for longer, rookie. Three: I'm the leader, and I'm pulling rank."

"You can't do that!"

"I just did. You won't get the wand back until you walk out of here on your own two feet. Got it?" Haruka submitted, since Usagi had somehow turned the tables and was looking at her like a worried mother looks at her child.

"Fine. I'll stay in bed." She pouted like a little kid.

"Good," Usagi said with a beautiful smile. "Talk to Luna, and get well soon, okay?"

"Okay." The two girls left the room, intent on transforming a few blocks away and returning to find Tsuruko.  
++++++++++++++++++

"Are they for real?" asked someone when Sailors Moon and Mercury walked through the hospital's front door.

"We heard you had something suspicious," Usagi said to Tsuruko, who had been waiting by the front desk.

"Yes," said Saeko, stepping around the corner. "We have almost a dozen cases of people coming into the hospital completely unconscious for no apparent reason. No one has flat-lined, but we haven't been able to wake anyone up either."

"That sounds like an energy drain," Ami agreed, recovering from the unexpected encounter. "If no one has gotten any worse then it is likely that they aren't being drained at the moment, but we can still find out what they were near when they were drained and back-track to the source."

"Take us there," Usagi said. Saeko began leading them through the halls while explaining the modus operandi for youma victims.

"We've had a number of them in various states of exhaustion the past few weeks," she began. "Those that are still conscious we've run some basic tests on and kept them overnight, but they usually recover their ki with enough food and sleep. Sometimes they don't even need that."

"Eating and resting are they main two ways to recuperate energy," Ami agreed clinically. "This isn't much of a risk in a hospital, but junk food is a bad idea. Higher calorie food like cheese is best, along with mineral-rich foods. Vegetables, mostly."

"We don't feed them junk, but it's good to have confirmation," Saeko agreed. "The unconscious patients are a bit different, however. They haven't technically been here long enough to need it, but we put them on an IV drip."

"Another good idea would be to get their blood-sugar levels up, possibly with glucose," Ami suggested.

"I'll remember that. We're here." Saeko opened the door in a large room that was about half-full of patients. "We put them all in the same room, since they all needed similar treatments. Someone even suggested calling it the victim-of-the-week room."

"Hopefully there won't be enough people coming here to need a whole room," Usagi said. "Mercury, what do you see?"

"None of them are being drained at the moment, but their energy levels are low enough that it is difficult for them to recover on their own. I don't see anything I can track, however." She paused. "Also, the second woman on the right has an abnormality on her liver. You might want to check that out."

"You discerned all that from _looking?_ I wish I had access to something like that," Saeko mused.

"It's one of a kind right now," Ami said, feeling vaguely guilty, "but getting it mass-produced is an idea for after we stop the Dark Kingdom. Helping everyone, right Moon?"

"Right," Usagi said. "Anyone I should try to wake up in particular?" she asked, producing the Moon Scepter. Tsuruko shivered when she saw it and inched away.

"That…that is frighteningly powerful," she murmured, eyeing the scepter. "I have only a passing experience with magic, but that thing is glowing like a sun to my senses."

"It's glowing for real, too. Crud," Usagi muttered, seeing that the runes on it were glowing. "A—Mercury, we ran into a crystal carrier earlier today and I completely missed it." The glow was muted, so it had been a little while ago, but it was undeniably there.

"Crystal carrier?" Tsuruko asked.

"A new development," Ami said, relieved Usagi hadn't blown her cover in surprise. "I'll explain while Moon heals the teenage girl on the left. She's lost the least energy, and would probably wake up early tomorrow if left alone."

"Shouldn't I heal someone more…serious?"

"You've never done this before, so start easy and work your way up," Ami said firmly, and turned to explain the situation to Tsuruko. Saeko followed the masked Usagi across the room to the bed in question.

"You're certain this is safe? If you've never done this before…"

"The worst it will do is nothing," Usagi assured her, mentally pulling up one of the spells Queen Serenity had given her. She held up the Scepter, feeling its surprising weight in her hand, and aimed it at the unconscious girl.

"Moon…Scepter…Healing…" A pink and gold glow emanated from the scepter and wafted over to the girl, covering her. Usagi almost dropped the Scepter in shock at how draining it was. It felt, as best as she could describe it, like her body heat was being sucked out through her hands. As though the Scepter were sucking it up with a straw. She vaguely wondered if this was what a milkshake felt like.

"Ugh. Where am I?" asked the girl as the glow faded. Usagi dropped to her knees, panting, and shivering slightly.

"Are you alright?" asked Saeko.

"Fine," Usagi said. "Are you okay?" she asked the girl.

"Just tell me where…are you Sailor Moon?"

"Yeah."

"You're in the hospital, Miss Chihiro," explained Saeko. "Your ki was drained by the youma Sailor Moon fights, and she woke you up. What do you remember, and do you feel unusual?"

"I feel fine," she said. "And I don't remember any monster! Sorry. Can I have your autograph?" she added, turning to Usagi.

"You don't remember a monster?"

"They wouldn't need you to see it," Usagi said, catching her breath. "They'd just need to slip you a cursed item. What did you do before you passed out? And I can't write in Japanese, just speak it," she added, lying to avoid giving an autograph. It would make her seem more foreign and less Japanese, and no one could track her handwriting. Naru had pointed out at a meeting—where they were going over how they _could_ be caught—that handwriting was probably something that the mask didn't protect. Ami and she had decided to never sign any autographs or papers, in the unlikely event it would come up.

"Oh. Um, not that much happened. I was at school or home for the whole day. I didn't stop anywhere on my way home. My boyfriend, Toshiro, stopped by to drop off my corsage for the winter dance. I ran out on a grocery run for my mom. And I bought a manga while I was out. Cutie Honey. That's all I remember."

"Mercury!" Usagi called, and relayed the information. After a few more questions—were her teachers odd, what grocery store, etc.—Mercury crunched the numbers and came to a conclusion.

"We need more information."

"Alright," said Usagi, "I'll just heal someone else, and we can ask them."

"Is that a good idea?" Saeko asked. "You appeared very drained the first time, and Miss Chihiro was supposed to be the easiest to revive."

"You do look a little ragged," Ami agreed.

"This is something we need to do," Usagi said.

"I agree," said Tsuruko. "This needs to be stopped before more people get hurt."

"Who is the next least drained?"

"That man," said Ami, pointing.

"Alright. Moon…Scepter…Healing!" again the pink and gold glow appeared and covered the man in question. Usagi wheezed as cold hooks again pulled away her strength, and she again dropped to her knees, gasping, when he began to stir.

"What's…going on?" Tsuruko quickly summarized the situation, pulling out her identification when he became uncertain. He nodded in acceptance.

"Do you have any idea how you might have been drained?"

"No, I don't think…Today was my wife and my ninth anniversary. I went to work—"

"Where?"

"I'm a manager at a grocery store."

"That could be it," Ami said, "but keep going."

"Nothing exceptional happened at work, and I left early. I bought some chocolates and a bouquet, and I got on the train before the rush hit. The last thing I remember is sitting down and nodding off."

"Not the grocery store, then, unless you brought something from there."

"The flowers," Usagi said firmly. "He was carrying a bouquet and Chihiro had her corsage. What store did you go to?" He gave her the address and name, which Chihiro confirmed as being the name on her corsage's tag.

"I'll make the call, and have officers standing by," Tsuruko said. "Also, should I spread the word about the crystal carriers, or will one of you?"

"You do it," said Usagi. "Mercury, who should I wake up next?"

"No."

"What?"

"You're too drained already," Ami said firmly. "If you wake up someone else you risk passing out. It's more important that we stop the flower shop operation and prevent new victims. Left alone, everyone here should wake up in a day or two—less if we return their energy to them."

"But…Fine. Lead the way, and lets kick some youma ass."  
++++++++++++++++

Sailors Moon and Mercury stood on the rooftops over looking True Blooms flower shop.

"Is it safe?" Usagi asked.

"Possibly not. He already had one day to gather energy, so he may simply have turned this into a trap." A man walked out of the shop with a bouquet. "That was the last customer," Ami said. "There appears to be a human, likely hypnotized, manning the counter. The youma are in back. Jadeite doesn't appear to be here in person for this operation."

"Let's say hi," Usagi pointed to the police car parked out sight of the store, "and dust the youma." They jumped off the roof and dropped into view of the officers. One of them quickly got out.

"Is that the place?"

"Yup," Usagi affirmed. "There's only a mind-controlled person and a youma in back."

"Two youma."

"Right, two youma in back. Thanks Merc. We're going in. Can you make sure no one comes in, and the guy at the counter doesn't get hurt?"

"Sounds simple. Good luck," he said and they moved toward the shop.

"Welcome to True Blooms," intoned the man behind the counter. "Here for all your flower needs."

"We're just going to take a look around," said Usagi. He hadn't blinked at seeing the senshi. Definitely hypnotized.

"Fifty percent off for such visions of loveliness," he pressed. They jumped over the counter. "Welcome to True Blooms. Here for all your flower needs," he repeated as the officer entered. The girls moved past him into the back.

"YAAAAHH," Usagi screamed, and they rushed in. One red youma was sitting in the center of a glowing diagram. Usagi recognized it from the candy shop. "Moon Tiara—"

"Tanglors kill!" snarled a voice from above. The senshi jumped out of the way as a youma dropped down from the ceiling. It looked like a mass of living, sickly yellow ivy, with green thorns as long as Usagi's forearm.

"Mercury Spray Shroud," Ami quickly called. The youma huddled down in the mist and sent tendrils creeping along the floor. Usagi quickly made some hand gestures, pointing at everyone in various orders. Ami nodded, getting the gist. "Aqua Bubble Burst!"

"Moon Tiara Magic!"

The green youma immediately focused on their location, only to run headfirst into a blast of freezing water. To Ami's surprise, Usagi's tiara targeted the red youma, instead of the frozen green one. It burst into dust, and the disk of doom began curving back towards its mistress. Usagi flicked her wrist, and it slammed into the green youma, dusting it.

"That's killing two birds with one stone," Ami said, just as Usagi opened her mouth. The blonde deflated.

"You stole my line," she accused, as the mist faded, and the sigil winked out of existence. They kept a lookout for a few moments, before deciding that nothing else was going to jump out at them. "That was almost too easy."

"Well, Jadeite isn't throwing his best troops at us yet," Ami rationalized. "Zoicite was on his last chance, it sounded like, but Jadeite probably has plans. Don't forget, he could afford to lose this place, because he already got one day's worth of energy. It may have been a test to observe our modus operandi. Granted, I don't see him here, but…" She shrugged.

"Well, let's go," Usagi said. "My mom will murder me if I come home with no homework done."  
+++++++++++++

"Jadeite, report!"

"My Queen," he said, teleporting in front of her, "all is going according to plan."

"The senshi have not yet interfered?"

"They have," he admitted, "but that was part of my plan. After having gathered one day's worth of energy, I judged it unlikely that we would get a second. I decided to simply sacrifice the operation to the senshi if they appeared, and use it as an opportunity to observe how they fought."

"Your observations?"

"First, that Zoicite's attempt not only failed, but backfired horrendously. The senshi are now actively cooperating with the authorities. This, needless to say, will make things more difficult."

"Were he not already dead, I would kill him myself," Beryl growled.

"I did, however, make a curious observation. Zoicite described Sailor Uranus as awakening at the stadium, but Glurg said she was heavily injured or killed stopping my bus operation."

"And?"

"Sailor Uranus did not appear at either the candy operation, or the flower operation. Thus I conclude that she was quite possibly killed. A small victory—"

"But a victory all the same," Beryl purred, smiling. "What of your next operation?"

"A thing of beauty, if I do say so myself, your majesty. In times of stress and fear, people often turn to a higher power. Now, it would be unwise to attempt to control a temple or church, but youma Balm has set herself up as a fortune teller on my orders, and when the operation begins tomorrow, I will give her this." He produced a deck of large cards.

"What enchantments have you woven now?" Beryl mused.

"These cards will drain the energy of whichever human holds them, over the course of a few days. It will also make them vulnerable to hypnosis. She will hypnotize each of her victims and give them several cards, before sending them back into the world."

"A few days? That seems unnecessarily slow. Won't the senshi catch on?"

"That's the beauty of the cards, your majesty. Balm will give _several_ of them to her victims, but only one is needed to drain. The victims will then give the cards to others, who will be drained and hypnotized without ever going to the store. Even if the senshi unravel the trail, it will take time, during which I can collect the energy our Great Ruler requires. Furthermore, we can repeat each day."

"What do you mean?"

"I shall create a new deck of cards each day. Balm will give some of the cards to her victims, but some victims will be left unmolested to lay down a false trail. The senshi will see that not everyone affected has gone to the fortune-teller, and not all of the fortune-teller's clients are being drained."

"A false trail."

"Yes, my queen. After Balm has given all of the cards away, at the end of the day I shall come, collect the energy, and take Balm with me when we return to the Dark Kingdom overnight. Furthermore, I have created something to hide her nature from the senshi, even if they get within a very close range."

"Covering your vulnerabilities, and giving the senshi less to investigate. But why will you not oversee this operation in person?"

"Because, your majesty, it would be too easy for the senshi to track me. We generals seem to draw their attention as much as the possibility of innocent deaths, and I cannot cloak my own presence. This is not merely to gather energy, but to test the senshi's information abilities. I fully expect them to find us out and smash the operation eventually, but seeing how fast they do so will give us valuable information for next time."

"Very well, Jadeite. I approve. Return to your work."

"At once, my queen."  
+++++++++++++

In Elysian, Serenity's spirit remained in the temple, fiddling with her cup of tea, as she watched the sun begin touch the horizon. She sighed. "I do wish, Helios, that you had allowed me to do more than that."

"What more could you have done?"

"If nothing else, Uranus could have been given her sword-talisman, which would be a boost to their strength. I know, also, that you gathered more than just the few magical artifacts I asked of you. There are books, aren't there? Instructions of magic, history books, the Mars and Jupiter Computers."

"Both of those are broken," he objected lightly. "Granted, the Venus Computer, Neptune Computer, and Pluto Computer are all usable, but I withheld them for a reason. "

Serenity slammed her cup to the table. "What _reason_ could you have for endangering so many people's lives!"

"Several," he replied mildly, "most of which I choose not to share. I did, I want you to note, keep Luna and Artemis safe in stasis, and gave them the objects they needed. That was very generous for what you offered in exchange."

"You gave them what they _needed_, but they could have used more. Why?"

Helios hmmed. "If nothing else, the price you agreed to pay is not enough for me to help so much."

"I had no idea priests were so mercenary," she snapped. He didn't rise to the bait, but smiled politely.

"Elysian is one of this planet's true places of power," he said on a tangent. "It is where the dreams of all those on Earth who dream run together, both living and dead. Even you can only be here because you once stayed the night for diplomatic reasons. It is said that there are only two entrances, and two exits: the Gates of Horn, and of Ivory."

"One for truthful dreams, like when I spoke with my daughter, and one for lies, dreamed every night and forgotten."

"That is not quite true, though it is poetic," Helios explained. "In truth, there are pairs of gates for passage in and out. One for the living, and one for the dead. One for prophecy, and one for flight and fancy, forgotten in daylight. One for sweet dreams, and one for nightmares. Yet why am I needed? Do you know?"

"To protect the dreams of the people of Earth," she repeated, remembering what the boy priest had told her. He smiled beautifully again.

"Protect them from what?" he asked, and she hesitated. "This place is not unlike the Dark Mirror Lake on Mars, or the Star Forest on Jupiter. And it is even _more_ similar to the Gates of Time."

"How...do you know about that?" she asked, disturbed.

"A dream is in the mind, and a spirit is little but a mind. If you could read your daughter's mind, is it so surprising that I could read yours?"

"No. No, I suppose not."

"But to continue, your Gates of Time are said to be there to protect the timeline from time-travelers causing paradoxes. You know, and thus I know, that there is far more to it than that. Tell me."

"Don't you already know?"

"Yes, but the reader does not."

"What?"

"Humor me and my desire for exposition. It has to do with the fourth wall." She looked around at the room's four walls, floor, and ceiling, before nodding in reluctant acceptance.

"As you wish. I concede to your desire for..._exposition_. The Gates of Time were created on accident by one of my predecessors, when he attempted to create a gate like we used to travel between planets, only to travel between solar systems. He chose the only powerful place on Pluto's surface, the only nexus of ley-lines, and opened the gate. Instead of punching a hole in space, however, he punched a hole all the way through reality."

"This was King Gecynde, correct? It was nearing the end of his reign, and like many Lunarian rulers, he sought to do one last, great act."

"Yes, and it killed him. His daughter patched the hole, but could not close it, so she constructed the Gates of Time and set Sailor Pluto to watch."

"Watch for what? If it was just time-travel then could one simply lock the gates, as they are now?"

"The Gates of Time lead not only through time, but outside of it. Beings comparable to Metaria or Pharaoh 90, such as Gallifreans or the Nightmare Child, could see the hole and attempt to squeeze through. Speaking of which, are you connected to the Nightmare Child?"

"No, the name is a mere coincidence. Similar to how Pharaoh 90 has nothing to do with Egypt."

"What is Egy…oh, yes. I am not up to date with all of the new history. But yes. It was rare for things to see the hole, as it was a mere pinprick in the vast fabric of time, but it happened occasionally. Sometimes they were not so bad, such as that priest from another dimension. Xellos, or something. Sometimes they were. I hate to think what might be waiting on Pluto now, should they ever return there."

"If I knew, I might hint. Don't worry, though," Helios assured her. "I am completely, absolutely, positively certain that H. P. Lovecraft was not a seer, and Mi-Go are not inhabiting the frozen dwarf planet." She looked at him sharply and raised an eyebrow.

"Is that so?" He ignored her.

"But if the Gates of Time guard against things outside of time, then I guard against…?"

"Things outside of dreams," Serenity realized.

"Correct. Predators of the human psyche and sanity. When it is day here they cannot act, but at night they come out to play, and to fight. And to feast." He turned to look at the window, and smiled grimly when he saw that the sun had almost passed beneath the horizon. He turned back to her, and his features began to blur and warp as he left his human form, flesh dripping like candle wax to the floor.

"And now, Queen Serenity," he said, his voice changing as his skull elongated and a horn began to twist its way up from the center of his forehead, "before night falls completely, we must discuss the matter of my price."  
+++++++++++++

Helios the Eldritch Abomination. Who can break the fourth wall. And compared to what happens later, you've seen nothing yet. Especially the Shadow Warriors. I'm running a bit low on prewritten material, so the next chapter might be an interlude. Maybe a scene from the original SilMil, or maybe Sailor M in England. Just a heads up. Review and give me an opinion. =P


	14. Preparations are made

I do not own Sailor Moon.

This is my longest chapter yet. Yay.  
+++++++++++++++++++

Tsuruko stood in front of the sea of microphones, undaunted by the many reporters' questions. She raised her hands for silence, and eventually it came. "Thank you," she said. "This press release is to formally announce the beginning of the cooperation between the government and the organization known as the Sailor Senshi. They have agreed to accept government aid and keep the public informed of major happenings in their conflict against the terrorist organization calling itself the Dark Kingdom."

"Does this mean that the senshi are working for the government?"

"No. The senshi are working with us, not for us. They have categorically refused all offers that could lead to them being considered government employees. Rather, they are partners. For lack of a better term, they might be called a non-governmental charity organization."

"Why a charity organization? Is there some way people can donate?"

"No, the senshi are receiving no monetary compensation for their work," Tsuruko said firmly. "They would and will refuse any such donations, they have assured me. However, at Sailor Moon's request, the government has begun a charity fund to help re-numerate anyone whose property is caught in the cross-fire. It will primarily be funded by senshi merchandise, but donations would be welcome as well."

"What are the senshi? Aliens?"

"The senshi are not quite aliens—at least not as we usually use the word. Biologically, they are completely human. I do not understand all of their explanation, and I do not believe all that I understand, but I will attempt to summarize. For those people familiar with chaos theory, the senshi are refugees from another dimension, where magic was more prominent than it was here. They come from this same solar system, albeit with changes in its history." It was simplest to tell the small lie, rather than bring up past civilizations.

"Do we have to worry about invasion from other dimensions?"

"We already are, for lack of a better term, being invaded. The Dark Kingdom that the senshi fight originated in the same dimension as the senshi. I called the senshi refugees for a reason. In their home dimension, the Dark Kingdom genocided the senshi's civilization; there were less than fifty survivors. Several of them managed to strike so horrific a retaliatory blow against the Dark Kingdom that it had to flee here or be destroyed. The senshi, unwilling to let another world suffer the same fate as theirs, followed."

"How many senshi are there?"

"That will be covered in the guidebook they will release in a few weeks."

"What is the Dark Kingdom?" At this question, Tsuruko again held up her hands for silence.

"Many people are peripherally aware that there is some magic in the world, but mostly this magic is faded, weak, and used only for things such as enchanted fishing rods and other playful artifacts. The Dark Kingdom is a group of sorcerers who made a pact with what can only be called a demon, and they increase their power by feeding this demon ki, which is the term for a human's life energy. A youma, the monsters the senshi often face, are demi-demons that feed on and gather ki for their masters. The draining of people's ki is why the victims become exhausted and pass out."

"Can't the JSDF fight these demons?"

"Hypothetically, yes, the military could fight them, and may begin doing so should the situation become dire. However, having fought a youma myself, I speak from personal experience when I say that it is safest to leave it to the senshi. Youma are not mortal as we think of the word, because they are not truly alive. They are the magical equivalent of a robot with an AI."

"So why isn't the JSDF fighting?"

"The amount of power it would take to kill an average youma would be equivalent to shoving several sticks of lit dynamite down its throat, and then incinerating all the pieces. Bear in mind that we would be trying to do this to a being that can bend iron, and becomes even harder to kill with each human it attacks and drains. The death toll would be horrendous for everyone but the senshi."

"Can the senshi handle these things so easily? They look like young girls."

"The senshi appear young," Tsuruko admitted, "but I believe that the magic they use to disguise themselves also disguises their ages, and not just their looks. As to their combat abilities, I mentioned that I fought a youma, did I not? I am a master of combat, and have defeated the supernatural before. Not only was I completely unable to kill it, but I likely would have died within another five or ten minutes, if I was not crippled first. Sailor Moon then arrived and proceeded to kill it with one attack, in under ten seconds."

"What is the government doing against the Dark Kingdom?"

"What happens if you get caught in an attack?"

"How do the senshi do what they do?"

"Can they pass their powers on to others?" Tsuruko held her hands up one more time. There was quiet.

"Thank you. The last thing I have to announce is that the senshi have identified two different tactics being used by the Dark Kingdom. Previously, a youma disguised as a human would gather energy. This youma could be identified by not acting entirely human, and the authorities could be alerted. This tactic is not one we have to watch out for, they think, as the general in charge of these operations was killed in the recent fight involving Commissioner Yamada."

"Generals?"

"No questions yet, please. But if someone you know begins acting odd, contact the authorities. After this there are operations where an item is used to drain energy. These operations included the bus disappearances, the candy store where the senshi were fired upon, and a flower store operation smashed earlier today. If you or your loved one suffers sudden and unexplained exhaustion, please call the number that should be flashing at the bottom of the screen to contact the authorities."

"It will also be printed in the newspaper for the next several days," added one of her aides.

"Yes, thank you. Lastly, there is a third type of operation we should be on the lookout for. When the Dark Kingdom and the Senshi crossed over here, seven powerful artifacts were lost in the journey. Through a process I am uncertain of, but shall simply write off as magic, the artifacts were magically implanted inside of seven random humans. Both the senshi and the Dark Kingdom are searching for the artifacts. If the senshi find you, they can harmlessly remove it, and you are free to go on your way."

"If the senshi don't find you?"

"If the Dark Kingdom finds you, they will also remove it, but their method of doing so will mutate the victim into a monster that they can command. These seven people are in or will be in Tokyo over the next few months, which is why both groups are focusing their actions here. There is no external way to tell if you or someone you know is a carrier; just wait for them to find you. However, if the Dark Kingdom attacks, passers-by should call the authorities and flee the area, or their lives will be endangered. That is all I will say for today, but the senshi guidebook will be out soon, and we may manage an interview with one of the senshi. Good day."  
+++++++++++++++

The senshi, with Luna and Naru, were having one last meeting by communicator before they crashed into bed. "Summaries of your day, everyone?" Luna suggested.

"The doctors say I can leave in two days if I keep up my current rate of recovery," Haruka announced. "They've never seen anything like it, but my parents are relieved."

"Are we going to get to meet them?" Usagi asked.

"Sorry, but I told them to go ahead and head home earlier today. My brother has school, my dad has work, and my mom has her own responsibilities too. Maybe later."

"Aw… But it's good that you'll be back in action," Usagi chirped.

"Usagi and Naru were with me for school," Ami began, "and Usagi was with me afterwards. I had a brief scare when I saw my mother in the hospital, but the mask worked perfectly. We handled the youma at the flower shop easily, and Usagi and I suspect that Jadeite is testing us, or distracting us while he prepares something big."

"I'll look around on my own," Luna assured them, "but given the Dark Kingdom's abilities there is only so much we can do. I saw the press release earlier."

"Yes, I helped Tsuruko put together the alternate dimension spiel, since we thought it would be more acceptable to the general public. I also did more work on the guidebook. Most importantly, while doing research for the guide, I came across new information about us in the Mercury Computer. It isn't very time sensitive, so I want to wait until we can all get together, but it may give us an advantage in the future."

"Alright!" Usagi said. "Naru, you have anything?"

"Not really. I saw the news report and stuff, but my day was pretty quiet. I needed the break, to be honest. I wouldn't trade this for the world, but there's still the voice in the back of my mind reminding me that I'm rather…squishy."

"Luna," said Usagi, "you said that Sailor M has the thingy that lets people imitate senshi powers. When is she coming here so she can give it to Naru?"

"I spoke with them recently. I'm not certain when, but I know why she isn't here yet, at least. Sailor Mars is powerfully psychic, and according to what I was told she's been receiving some prophetic dreams. If she begins helping us too soon, then the Dark Kingdom will successfully pull off a large operation that could kill many people. She needs to stay in reserve to surprise them when that happens."

"Is this the thing we think Jadeite could be building up for?" Usagi asked.

"It's possible, if _he's_ planning something at all," Ami said. "Don't forget, there are two generals still unaccounted for."

"Scary thought," said Naru.

"More news, guys," Usagi said. "I ran into a crystal carrier today."

"What! Who?"

"I don't know," she admitted. Everyone went dead silent.

"What." Luna was obviously not pleased.

"When I was at the hospital healing people—which is really draining by the way, so I guess I need to practice—the Moon Scepter was glowing when I pulled it out. It could have been anyone at school, at the arcade, or on the bus, though. I checked the hospital, so I don't think it was anyone there."

"At least we know that it's someone," Naru said before Luna could blow up. "Usagi can just check it in the bathroom at school every now and then, so we'll know if it's a student or teacher there, and then she can swing by the arcade."

"Actually," said Luna sharply, "after school would also be a good time to see the training area Tsuruko found for you. I'll be waiting for you outside the arcade, so you can go there first, and you can say you had a study session at Ami's."

"Okay, but I'm getting a milkshake first," Usagi said with a pout. Before Luna could start a lecture, she perked up as she remembered something. "Guys, Reika is coming back!"

"Who's Reika?"

"Didn't she and Motoki break up?" asked Naru.

"That's what I thought," Usagi said, "but she just went to South America—"

"Mali is in Africa," corrected Ami.

"—and she's coming back in two weeks."

"Why's this important?" Haruka asked.

"Reika is this really smart, really pretty girl. I think she does a little martial-arts, too. So she's a girl, she's awesome, and she's showing up in my life right now. I think she might be a senshi."

Everyone opened their mouths to comment on how unlikely that was.

Everyone remembered how Usagi had predicted that Haruka was a senshi using similar methods.

Everyone closed their mouths.

"It's worth consideration," Luna said finally. "If no one else has anything else to report, then good night."

"Good night."

"Sleep well."

"'Night."

"Good night."  
++++++++++++++++

"OhcrapI'mgonnabeLAAaaaattte," Usagi wailed as she rushed out the door. She pounded down the sidewalk, dodging between bystanders with ridiculous ease, considering her speed. Then she rounded a corner and hit someone.

Again.

"Ow…Odango Atama, it's been a while since this happened," Mamoru groaned. "What? Last Wednesday was the last time you crashed into me? That's got to be a new record."

"Yeah, sorry, gotta run!" Usagi babbled, barely looking at him before rushing off again. Mamoru just looked after her for a few seconds, slightly dismayed that they hadn't had an argument. For some reason his day seemed a little less bright.

Usagi burst through the school doors, maneuvered around the few people still in the halls, and zoomed through the door to her classroom, almost crashing into her desk.

"Wow, Usagi," said Naru, "you made it with ten minutes to spare."

"Ten minutes! My clock said it was already eight," she whined. "Ooh, I bet Luna set it ahead. Or Shingo, the little brat. He's probably laughing himself sick, and then he can play sick, and then he'll get to skip school, and…Ugh." Umino approached hesitantly.

"Usagi…"

"Please not now, Umino," she groaned. "I need to catch a few Zs before class." She promptly put head on her arms and faded out the rest of the world.

It was like that a lot of the rest of the day. He would walk up to her and start to say something, and then lose his nerve, squawk "Never mind," and rush off. Naru finally decided to take matters into her own hands.

"Alright, Umino," she said, grabbing his shoulders when class was finally dismissed that afternoon. "What's up with you and Usagi?"

"I—what—nothing!"

"Oh? What do you keep almost telling her?"

"I, I like her, okay!" he yelped. Naru flinched. She liked him, a little, maybe, just as friends, and hearing that wasn't exactly painless.

"Everyone knows _that_, Umino. It's pretty obvious. What was up with _today_?"

He squirmed, but she didn't let him get away. Finally, he broke. "The winter dance is coming up, alright?"

"You wanted to ask her out?" He nodded. Naru sighed. "Umino, they haven't even started selling tickets or putting up flyers yet."

"I know, but Usagi is so perfect! I want to hold her hand, and take walks with her, and meet her parents, and trade diaries, and—"

"Hold it!" Naru interjected. "I think you're going a bit fast there, don't you? Besides, you've already met her parents. You've known them since you were seven. And if her dad still gives you the evil eye when you're just friends, how do you think he'll react when you start going out?"

"I already thought about that," Umino said proudly. "In another three weeks I'll have enough saved up to buy a bullet-proof vest on E-bay."

"Try a suit of samurai armor instead. He's more likely to pull a katana on you, considering our gun laws."

"Oh." Umino wilted. "But yeah. I just can't get up the nerve to ask. If she says no…"

"When she turns you down, she'll be nice about it, and you'll still be friends," Naru tried to console him.

"_When_ she turns me down, you say," Umino grumbled. "You think it's that certain she'll say no?"

"Anything is possible," Naru said gently.

_But I hope she does,_ Naru thought jealously. It wasn't because _she_ liked Umino, of course. Well, she actually did, but as friends. Nothing else. It certainly wasn't because she _liked_ Umino. That would be crazy. Even if he did have nice eyes under those glasses…

"I just wish there was some way to know for sure." Naru found herself considering the issue despite herself.

"Well, Usagi and I were checking out this temple where they did fortune telling last week. And I've seen a few fortuneteller stands here and there. It couldn't hurt."

"Yeah. Actually, I passed this new one right by my house. Maybe I'll go there and ask so I can find out that she'll say yes! Then we'll start dating, and then we'll get married, and—"

"I don't want to hear anymore," Naru said firmly, putting a finger on his lips. "Usagi's waiting for me at the Crown. Good luck with the fortune stuff." She took off running, ignoring the voice in the back of her head.

"Okay, bye," Umino called after her. Her turned the other way and started down the street, towards the House of Fortune. It was a rather gaudy shop, with thick curtains in the window and, as he entered, on the walls. Everything was covered in arcane signs, and the only lighting came from candles.

"Come in a back," sang a lyrical voice from the other side of a curtain. "You are my only customer at the moment."

"Alright," he said, and stepped through the velvet drapery. The woman on the other side was rather beautiful, with red hair and brilliant amber eyes. Her form was shrouded in an elaborate weaving of cloth and chains, which was covered with more arcane symbols. She was sitting down—her legs were covered by the tablecloth—so Umino couldn't guess at her height, but even sitting she appeared to loom.

"Sit down, and tell me what part of the future you want to see." He sat across the table, eyeing the crystal ball. Something felt off about the situation, but he didn't know what. _Maybe it's just the mysticism._

"There's a girl I want to ask out, and I want to now if she'll say yes," he confessed.

"Ah. I see. Put your hands on the crystal ball, and then I shall do a reading of the cards." He touched the ball, which felt oddly warm, and felt the warmth spread throughout his body. He felt very…sleeeeeepy….

"The girl you desire: blonde with blue eyes. Small. Cheerful."

"Yeeess," he droned.

"And are there others whom you know?" The image in the crystal ball cycled through several of their classmates. "Yes, I see. Take these cards, and listen to my words. You are brave, and you are bold. You do as you wish, not as you are told. Pass the cards, and spread the word; stand out and bring chaos unto the herd."

"Yes, master," he droned.  
+++++++++++++++++

"Did I miss anything?" Naru asked Usagi, who was drinking a milkshake in a to-go cup outside the Crown.

"One way to find out," she said, handing Naru a second cup and motioning them into the alley.

"Well?" Luna asked from near their feet. With a flick of her wrist Usagi produced the Moon Scepter. Which wasn't glowing. "No one in the arcade, either, then."

"Not right now, at least," said Naru. "Where's Ami?"

"Here," said a voice behind her. "I was speaking with Haruka. She's getting out early tomorrow; they're just keeping her for a few last-minute tests."

"Great!" chirped Usagi. "Here's the Disguise pen, so lets go check out the base place."

Slipping further into the alley to remain unobserved, they announced their incantations.

"Moon Power: Make-Up!"

"Mercury Power: Make-Up!"

"Disguise Pen: make me a sailor senshi!"

With a flash of light three senshi stood in the alley. Usagi and Ami took a moment to admire Naru's uniform. It didn't have any additions other than the mask, and the bow, collar, skirt, and boots were all black. All the same, it looked rather impressive. "So what should my name be?"

"Not one of the real senshi," said Luna. "We can just pretend that your powers haven't fully activated yet, and give you an obviously false code name, in case we find the senshi you'd be named after later."

"Sailor Ceres," suggested Ami. "It's a large asteroid that may have been a planet once, and it fits the theme."

"Sounds good to me."

"Alright, I hereby dub thee: Shinsetsu Senshi Sailor Ceres," Usagi declared pompously.

"Kind?" (Shinsetsu is Japanese for kind)

"It felt right," Usagi said with a shrug. "I mean, Ami's smart, I'm powerful, Haruka's tough, and you keep us grounded and stuff." Then she swept Naru off her feet and Ami picked up Luna, and they took off toward in the direction Luna indicated. Several minutes later, they touched down in front of a warehouse, and left Luna behind, since they couldn't have a cat with them. They opened the door and were greeted by the typist from the meeting earlier, with two bodyguards near the walls.

"Hello," she said, standing up and bowing. "I never introduced myself earlier, I believe. My name is Sakka. Inochitori Sakka, at your service."

"Pleased to meet you. I am Sailor Mercury."

"Sailor Moon. And she," Usagi motioned to Naru, who bowed, "will be known as Sailor Ceres until her powers start working for real. Right now she only has the costume."

"Nice to meet you."

"Likewise," said Sakka. "May I offer you a quick tour?"

"Sure!" They began walking.

"As you can see, this is simply a warehouse that the government rented for the year. Given your opinions, we felt it best not to spend too much money on this, but more can be added as required. Aside from the boxes and crates piled around, which are empty, the room is mostly empty space with padded matting for your physical exercises."

"Do the boxes serve any purpose?"

"They can be used for storage of future materials, and also can be rearranged to simulate close quarters environments. They should also make good targets for your spells, and are easily replaceable. Mostly, however, we just didn't feel like moving them was worth the trouble."

"I don't blame you," said Usagi. Naru giggled.

"In this corner," Sakka continued as they reached the far end of the building, "is a basic computer set-up that was probably included because donating it would let someone get rid of obsolete junk in favor of a new model. Officially, it's here in case you need Internet access when Sailor Mercury is unavailable, or there is a function her computer does not fulfill. Unofficially, it will probably be used by the guards to play Dungeon Keeper and Minesweeper."

"Dungeon Keeper used to be one of my favorite games," said Ami with a smile. "I may borrow it, later."

"Hmm…I bet Luna could set up something like the other training thingy she has," Usagi said. Naru giggled again.

"Amazing. Moon is being serious about the job and Mercury wants to goof off. Did a youma switch your bodies or something?"

"Hey, I can be serious, Ceres," Usagi whined.

"Rarely. What's with the guards?" asked Naru.

"They are here for basic security. To keep other people from breaking in and to cater to any requests you may make while here," said Sakka, leading them toward another corner. "There will be a minimum of two guards here twenty-four seven, and Ms. Aoyama, Mr. Manju, or I will often be here as well, serving as an intermediary."

"What's in the fridge?" Usagi asked, bouncing over the occupant of the other corner. "Aw…Just water?"

"For rehydration, since you will be working out. We will add other refreshments if you request."

"We'll bring our own," said Naru, cutting off Usagi's long list of favorites. "What's in the chest?"

"Basic medical supplies, assorted training aides such as weights and padding, and bedding in case you need to spend the night or nap. Also, the lines for climbing."

"Climbing?"

"See above?" Everyone looked up at the maze of beams near the ceiling. "We put in a few climbing wall safety features in case you decide you wish to practice that, since you commonly travel across the rooftops. There's also a chain to support the punching bag over there," Sakka added pointing.

"Cool. Anything else?" asked Usagi.

"The restroom is in the far corner."

"Got it! Thanks! This is fantastic," the blonde chirped.

"I am glad you approve."

"Do you two want to go a round or two right now?" asked Naru. "I'll referee. After all, we don't want Uranus to find out that we're out of practice when she gets out in the field again."

"Brr, you're right," Usagi said, shivering. "Talk about a slave driver. I should also practice with the Scepter more. I need to get used to the drain."

"A few rounds of practice are a good idea," Mercury agreed. "Also, Ms. Inochitori, is there any news of further attacks?"

"You may call me Sakka. And none that I am aware of. Are you expecting another one so soon?"

"Yeah," said Naru as they all walked to the center of the room. "We figure that Jadeite knew we would get him, and has probably started another operation by now. It's just a matter of finding him."

"There's also the crystal carriers," added Usagi. "I know that at least one of them is in the city, but I don't know who. I'm looking, though." She squared off against Ami, and Naru and Sakka backed out of the range of fire. "What are the rules?"

"Best of three," suggested Ami. "Two without magic, and the middle one with?"

"Sounds good!"

"Alright then," said Naru. "Begin!"

Usagi immediately darted forward. Unfortunately, Ami was very used to her friend's headfirst tactics, and moved to the side very quickly. Usagi pivoted and swung a kick, which Ami just further backed away from.

"Aw, stop running."

"When facing a stronger foe, it is wisest to stay out of range," Ami replied. She stayed in a simple, defensive stance, waiting for Usagi next move. The blonde took a step and jumped toward the bluenette, aiming for a boot-to-the-head. Ami simply dashed forward and duck, allowing Usagi to pass by overhead. Then she immediately whirled around and swept out Usagi's legs in the middle of her attempted landing.

Usagi crashed to the floor and yelped when she found herself looking at the bottom of Ami's boot. The bluenette had pulled her kick so close that her foot was touching Usagi's facemask.

"Winner: Mercury!"

"I'll get it this time," Usagi grumbled as they took up their positions again.

"Begin!"

"Mercury Spray Shroud!"

"Moon Tiara Magic!" Ami had already moved out of the way and the tiara passed harmlessly by. Usagi, in the meanwhile, was on edge, waiting for Ami's next attack. Ami decided to keep her distance.

"Aqua Bubble Burst!" She sent out no less than three blasts of water, designed to tag Usagi if she dodged left or right of the central blast. Usagi didn't know this, but luckily jumped straight up instead.

_I forgot that her mist messes up sound, too,_ she thought in mid-air. As her tiara carved a swathe through mist on its return to her she smiled. _I still know where she is in general, though._ "Moon Tiara Magic!"

Ami jumped over the disk, which had been sent skimming along inches above the ground, and decided to take a risk. "Aqua Bubble Burst!" She jumped after her own attack, relying on Usagi to be vulnerable without her tiara. Usagi spun to the side and was only tagged by the water, but her eyes widened as Ami appeared out of the mist.

"YAAAAAAAAA!" she called, and Ami stumbled at the shockwave of sound. It had been so long since she was on the receiving end that she'd forgotten how much it hurt. Usagi jumped forward while her opponent was off balance, and a brief tussle ended with Ami pinned on the ground, just as Usagi's tiara wrapped itself back around her head.

"Winner: Moon!"

"Winner takes all," Usagi joked as she helped Ami to her feet.

"It appears that way," the bluenette agreed as they squared off again.

"Begin!"

Usagi blurred forward, which Ami was expecting, and jumped to the side. Unfortunately, Usagi had expected her dodge, and stopped dead after two steps, facing Ami's new location. She made a wave with her fingers. _Come and get me._

_As you wish,_ Ami obliged, and she slowly slid forward. When she was within two steps, Ami blurred forward and aimed a punch at Usagi's solar plexus. To her surprise, Usagi didn't even try to dodge.

Instead, the leader of the senshi stepped into the punch, taking it with a wheezing cough, a swung her fist into Ami's head. Then she grabbed the bluenette's hair. Three painful seconds later, Ami found herself again on the ground.

"Winner: Moon!"

"Your tactics have improved," Ami said as she got to her feet.

"That's geek speak for, 'you're a cheating bitch,' right?" Usagi said with a grin.

"Yes. But it's not cheating if you do it to the youma, so good job. If you do it again I'll dye _your_ hair pink."

"That doesn't sound too bad," Usagi mused.

"I can just imagine your new nick-name, though," Naru teased. "Hey there, cotton candy head."

"Okay, point," Usagi said with a laugh.

"You don't have much combat training, do you?" asked Sakka.

"You mean martial arts? Nope!" Usagi chirped. "But that doesn't do much against a youma, and we've been curb-stomping them for a while. Real life experience instead of training, you know?"

"That's true," said Sakka. "Is there anything else you would like to discuss?"

"I think we're good," said Usagi.

"Actually," said Ami, "let me grab a bottle of water. I want to do a demonstration."

"Demonstration?"

"Usually we senshi can only use our magic by calling out our spells, and are limited to a certain set of spells. At the moment all I have is Mercury Spray Shroud, which creates fog, and Aqua Bubble Burst, which sprays freezing water."

"Yeah, I've only got two spells too," Usagi added.

"I don't have any," said Naru.

"Actually, Moon, you have more than two spells," Ami corrected. "That is part of what got me thinking about this."

"Do you mean my screaming thing?"

"No. I mean the spells you can cast with the Royal Scepter."

"That's more the Scepter than it is me," she said skeptically.

"Yes, but you still provide the magic. Normal, _human_ magic, instead of senshi magic. Theoretically, you should be able to use the scepter outside of senshi form, the same way I can use my computer."

Usagi shot a look at Sakka. "That's cool, Mercury, but I don't really want to talk about not being in uniform right here. No offense, Sakka."

"None taken."

"Well, the scepter is only part of what inspired me. Luna also told us that non-senshi could still use some planetary magic, even without magic of their own. Martians could conjure flames, etc."

"Yeah, I remember that," said Usagi. Ami opened the water bottle, held her free hand palm up in front of her body, and positioned the water bottle over it.

"That inspired me to start researching and experimenting. And now, I can do this." Ami overturned the bottle and poured the water into her hand. Rather than splash everywhere, it instantly froze, twisting into a small ice sculpture as Ami kept pouring on more water.

"Whoa. That's really cool," Usagi whispered.

"Uh-huh," agreed an awed Naru.

"Senshi magic without calling out any spell," Ami said proudly. "This is very basic, at the moment, but if we become skilled enough I believe we could eventually create our own attacks and fight silently."

"That is awesome," Usagi agreed, still looking at the sculpture. "Any idea how I should start trying to do that?"

Ami shrugged. "Meditation? I focused on cooling and freezing a glass of water in my hands at the beginning. You could do something like that, once we figure out what your magic, well, _is_. Until then, I recommend that you just try to feel for and manipulate the power."

"Alright! Any more cool stuff?"

"Yeah, dish," added Naru.

"Yes, but I want to wait until Uranus can join us tomorrow, for simplicity's sake. At least one part of this will work best with as many of us as possible."

"Excuse me? What did you mean by what her magic _is_?" Sakka asked.

"All of the senshi have power over an element," Naru said quickly. "Mercury has water, Uranus has air, Mars has fire. We just aren't sure what Moon's element is, and there are no records of it."

"Light is my current theory," said Ami. "Some form of positive or emotional energy is also a possibility."

"I'll just have to figure it out," Usagi said with a shrug. "Alright, I think we're done here, so we should go on a patrol. Thanks for showing us around, Sakka!"

"It was my pleasure. Good luck, and good hunting."  
+++++++++++++++++++

In an unused holding room in the basement of a non-descript building, two men… two peop… two _beings_ were having an interesting conversation.

"So how were you born? What is the life cycle of your kind?" Manju Ken asked.

"I don't really remember my own creation," Glurg rumbled in reply. They were separated by bars and over a hundred paper wards, but seemed perfectly amicable to each other. "You don't remember being born, do you? I heard that humans are pretty useless for the first part of their lives."

"True enough. My earliest memory is when I was six or seven."

"Six or seven what?"

"Years old. You don't measure time like that?"

"I spent most of my existence in a prison underground. No days or nights, much less anything else."

"Oh my. How did you react when you first saw the sun?"

"I wondered how far away it was, and if it was going to come back after it left, since it was setting. Since no on else seemed worried or upset, I decided to just enjoy the view."

"Most humans would have been afraid. There are stories about humans who are kept away from light for long periods of time, and it hurts them when they go into the sun again?"

"Really? Why would it hurt them?"

"The sun is naturally a little harmful. If we stay in it too long, we get burned slightly. However, being in it over periods of time makes our bodies resistant. If we stay out of the sun for too long, we lose that resistance."

"That…doesn't make sense. Humans are strange."

"Yes, we are. What are youma like?"

"Well, a youma is born when a youma egg is infused with enough energy to become animate. Youma eggs are created by infusing dark power into a piece of earth or crystal. Normally Metaria herself would do this, but Shadow Warriors like myself can also do so. I don't believe our human leaders can, though. Though they can empower youma."

"Empower?"

"Pour your own dark energy into a youma, reshaping it to your needs. It becomes mostly whatever you want it to be, such as bigger, smarter, faster, tougher, or more magically capable. General Zoicite did it to his youma, which is why they were so much tougher than regular. The catch is that you don't get what you used back."

"Is that how you…ascended?"

"No. A youma, if it continues to gain energy and age, and intelligence, will eventually become a Shadow Warrior on its own. Being empowered prevents you from ever evolving, though. You become stronger, but you never grow stronger than you've become."

"And how do youma feel about this? What is generally though of these options?"

"Mostly, we don't. Youma aren't human. Until we ascend, we have very little sense of self or free will. We don't form friendships or rivalries. I had no real idea of life or death before ascending. I was close, so I could feel some things, but it would be more like a smart animal than a human. I do not consider the senshi to be killing youma, just destroying them."

"No free will? Really?"

"There are some differences among us, mostly based on the characteristics of the people whose energy we absorbed, but it is no different than walking upright or on four feet, or slithering or flying."

"That…I am not sure what to say? You said a youma egg hatches when it absorbs energy. Do you mean…"

"Human energy. Life energy. The first youma were fed off of the slaughter of several cities on this planet, and later eggs were fed with the energy gathered in the middle of the attack. I was born on…Saturn, I believe. Under the command of Shadow warrior Bakane."

"What was it like?"

"I don't remember."

"Ah, I see. Glurg. Why did you defect? You said Shadow Warriors are respected."

"I only really became alive after I ascended. I don't think my previous existence really counts. Maybe near the end, but during most of my life, I've dealt with Zoicite wanting me dead and abusing me. I have no reason to stay loyal, and aside from that flower bastard you have never done anything to me."

"Or _for_ you."

"You accepted my surrender instead of killing me," he gurgled. "_They_ would never have done so. Besides, maybe I can eventually create a new race of youma, free from those tyrants."

"You plan on that?"

"Perhaps. Who knows?"

"True. True. None of us can see the future. And good thing, since we might not like what we see."

"Couldn't we change it then, if we know what's happening?"

"If you change it and it doesn't happen, how would you have seen it in the first place? Also, there are many stories about men trying to avoid a prophecy and walking straight into it. Oedipus Rex being the most famous."

"What happens?"

"A man finds out that he is destined to kill his father and marry his mother."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"For humans, yes. Incest is considered quite despicable. He tries to avoid this fate by leaving home and wandering the world."

"And?"

"He becomes king of a city by saving it from a monster and then marrying the widowed queen. The previous king was killed while traveling to an oracle to find out how to kill the monster."

"It seems like a happy ending," Glurg rumbled.

"Through a cruel working of fate, Oedipus discovers that his parents—the ones who raised him—had, in fact, adopted him. He had killed the king of his current country on his journey and the queen was his birth mother."

"Adopted?"

"When a child is raised by people other than the ones who gave birth to him."

"Maybe he would have been wiser to decide not to marry an older woman," Glurg hazarded. Ken began chuckling.

"Yes, that is a solution." Glurg laughed too. Then it/he trailed off.

"Would you be willing to let me drain a little energy? I want to remember what you are like." Ken considered the question.

"A little shouldn't hurt." He reached through the bars and Glurg touched his hand. There was a sensation of cold and sleepiness, and then Glurg pulled away.

"Thank you. I enjoy talking to you. Come again some time."

"I will. I'll also see about getting you some roomy quarters." Glurg shrugged.

"What would I use them for? Just try and get me a window. I've decided I like the sun."  
++++++++++++++++++

The next day Usagi arrived at school on time, for once. It looked as though she had arrived at a war zone. She made her surprise known.

"What the _heck_ is going on?" Most of the desks were scrambled out of order and the students were in disarray. In the center of the room there were two main groups. On one side were a group of regular students, including Naru, scowling threateningly at the others. It also appeared to include a few students, girls, who looked upset, afraid, and slightly mussed.

The other group consisted of four classmates Usagi knew: Umino, Sakura, Hideki, and Daisuke. Looking at their clothes, though, Usagi almost didn't recognize them.

Umino was wearing a loud blue suit (no, seriously, that thing was _ugly_) and grinning like a maniac.

Hideki had several colorful bandanas tied around parts of his body, including his head. He'd also ripped the sleeves off of jacket, and was wearing it without a shirt underneath.

Sakura had apparently decided to go the less-is-more route. She was wearing a button down shirt that had had the part below her ribs torn away, and had only the bottom two buttons buttoned. She also had several playing cards tucked into her shirt pocket, and was wearing knee-high boots and a scandalously short skirt. (How she didn't freeze, Usagi couldn't guess. She just hoped Sakura was wearing underwear.)

Daisuke hadn't changed his clothes much—he just wore them three sizes bigger to hide that he was a bit pudgy. He had, however, died his hair blonde and pierced his ears, and there was a cigarette hanging from his mouth.

"Usagi, help! They've gone crazy!" Naru yelped.

"Don't be stupid, I'm perfectly sane," Umino sneered. "In fact, I'm better than ever! Usagi, how about we blow this joint and hit up a hotel, you know?" He touched her and she slapped his hand away.

"Go _where_!" she shrieked, insulted at the implication. "No! What's wrong with you!"

"We're fine," Hideki drawled.

"You're the ones who are boring," complained Sakura. "That hotel idea sounds great. Want to come, Takeshi?"

"Sakura, this isn't you," he said.

"Of course it is," she purred slinking over to him. "I'm more me than I've ever been before."

"No you aren't! You…!" Sakura decided to shut him up with her lips, and her right hand grabbed the back of his head to keep him from running. Her left hand led his hand into her open shirt, and then trailed lower and lower down his chest. Realization hit when Usagi saw her slip a card into Takeshi's right pocket before her finger trailed around to the front.

"What do you think you're doing!" yelled Ms. Haruna, who entered behind Usagi. The blonde yelped and stumbled out of the way. Sakura pulled away from the dazed Takeshi, leaving an obvious stain of red lipstick.

"Doing homework," she said with a cute pout.

"Out! Out of my classroom!"

"Alright," said Umino, and they began filing out, including a dopey Takeshi. Students who had heard the shout and gathered in the hall moved out of their way. "It's really a pity," Umino drawled, "I so enjoy this classroom's," his arm lashed out and flipped up the teacher's skirt, "view. Teddy-bear panties, at your age?" Everyone burst out laughing as Ms. Haruna froze, blushed, and then dropped to her knees and actually began crying. The group ran down the hall, cackling.

"_Shut up_!" Usagi shrieked. Everyone went dead silent, staring nervously at the furious blonde. "This. Isn't. Funny." People began inching away, nodding but not speaking. Usagi breathed and calmed down. "Who here has a cell phone?"

"A cell phone?" asked Naru.

"That big news thingy yesterday, about youma pretending to be people and calling the senshi," Usagi elaborated. "Doesn't this seem like the type of thing it was warning about? Or is everyone okay with the idea of letting man-eating monsters run around and pretend to be our friends?" Whispering broke out as everyone got the message.

Ami stood up. "I'll run to the office and call." She rushed out the door.  
++++++++++++++++++

"Hello, Ms. Shihoin?" said Ami, staggering into the office.

"Yes? Mizuno Ami, correct? What do you need?"

"Two things. First, Ms. Haruna wants you to call the authorities, as she thinks a few of her students may be possessed."

Ms. Shihoin gasped. "That's bad. Is anyone hurt?" She grabbed the phone.

"Just some people's pride. Second, I believe I caught a stomach virus from my mother. I just threw up in the bathroom. May I have a note to take the bus home, and can you arrange for me to get make up work if I am absent tomorrow?"

"Yes, just a moment." She dialed the hotline number and quickly made her report. "Now, don't you think I should call your mother, if you're sick?"

"My mother works in the hospital. She may be in surgery or at the emergency room right now. I doubt she'll have the spare time to drive me."

"Your father, then?"

"He lives in Okinawa."

"Oh. I'm sorry." _Well, Mizuno is one of the top students in the school, so I think I can trust her. Wait…Blue hair…Intelligent…Now that I think of it… _"You are in Haruna's class, right? I'll write you a note in case you run into a truancy officer."

"Thank you very much." A few minutes later Ami was out the door, down the street, and into the alley. "Mercury Power: Make-Up!" She jumped up to the rooftops, pulled out her communicator, and called Luna.

"Mercury? This is good luck. There's been a report,"

"That some of my classmates have been possessed?"

"I…no. It's a man who works in a restaurant who they think has been possessed, along with a few friends and coworkers. Why did you think it was your school?"

"Because a few of my classmates are acting odd, so Usagi told them to call while I slipped away and transformed. People at a restaurant are affected, too?"

"Yes, I, one moment." It was the call about Ami's classmates being reported. "Yes, we will be there in a few minutes."

"I'll go examine my classmates, and then I'll check out the restaurant. We need to find out if this is one youma or many. It may possibly be more than one operation, as well."

"I'll send Uranus to check out the restaurant. She should be out of the hospital soon. Can you find someway to liberate Usagi? The Scepter might be needed."

"Yes. I'll contact you when I've left the school." Ami turned off the communicator and took off atop the rooftops, dropping down to enter the school. The principal was already waiting for her at the door.

"It is good to see you again. You responded very quickly."

"It's a slow day," Ami said. "Explain the situation, please." Since she already knew it she tuned most of it out, paying only enough attention to ensure that there wasn't anything new. "Please lead me to the classroom in question." They worked their way through the halls and Ami found herself standing at the room they just left. The principal entered. It was rather clear that Ms. Haruna had only just got the class in order, but this was tactfully ignored.

"Hey, who's that?"

"Is she for real?"

"That's Mercury, right?"

"She looks our age."

"Quiet!" called Mr. Raikon. "Please treat Sailor Mercury with the respect she deserves. Are any of the students in question still in the room?"

"No," said Ms. Haruna, eyeing Sailor Mercury. Her eyes were still a little blotchy, but she appeared more under control.

"I'll see if I can track them down," Ami assured the adults. "First, though, I should make sure no one else is feeling any ill effects." She activated her visor and made a big show of looking around the room. "Will you, you, and you," she pointed to Hanako, Usagi, and Yamato, "please stand in a line in front of me. You all have light traces of taint, but I should be able to clear it off on my own. You as well, Miss…"

"Haruna." They all stood in a line. Ami laid her hand on Hanako's forehead and called upon the cold.

"That's cold!" she yelped, pulling away.

"Yes, but it's cleansing." She did the same to Usagi, Yamato, and Ms. Haruna, and stepped back. "Now let's see." She frowned and pointed to Usagi. "I'm sorry, but you still have the taint. It's a little stronger than what I can take care of on my own. Would you mind coming with me to see Sailor Moon?"

"Meet Sailor Moon! I'd love to!" Usagi chirped, getting it. "Do you think she'd sign an autograph for me?"

"We don't do autographs, sorry," said Ami with a smile. She turned to the adults. "I can have her back within an hour or two, but it's best to nip this in the bud, before she gets hurt."

"That's acceptable. I'll call her parents and let them know."

"Only an hour," Usagi whined. "Couldn't you get me out of the entire day?"

"If this got bad enough for you to miss the entire day," Ami said politely, "You'd be a mindless zombie who couldn't enjoy the free time."

Usagi shivered. "Ugh. Got it. Message received. Take notes for me, will you, Naru."

"Also," said Ami, "does anyone know where one of them might have encountered the youma? Places they visited yesterday or today?"

"Sakura was going to a movie."

"Umino said something about a new fortuneteller," said Naru.

"Daisuke was going to a manga store that had a sale."

"Thank you, you've been very helpful," said Ami.  
+++++++++++++++

"So do we know where Umino and the others went?" Usagi asked once she had transformed and they had taken to the rooftops.

"No, but we have another lead. There's a restaurant where some of the employees are behaving in a similar manner. They're probably victims as well."

"Alright. Think things are under control?"

"They should be. We're meeting Uranus there."

"Yes!" Usagi cartwheeled across a roof and then continued jumping. "All of our team is back in action! Now if only Sailor M would show up so we can have five senshi. We'll be kicking youma butt!"

"Five? Oh, yes, Naru and the Letter Compact. We're here." They dropped down in front of a restaurant with a police car inside of it, and found the very welcome sight of Sailor Uranus waiting for them.

"Good to see you back in action," Usagi said.

"Good to be back," Haruka replied, giving her a fist-bump. So what do you guys think?" Ami turned to scan them while Usagi pulled out the Moon Scepter. It wasn't glowing, but she might need to heal someone.

"Yes, they've been hypnotized, and are being slowly drained," Ami said. She bent down to the floor. "This appears to be the cause." It was a tarot card.

"So, a gambling joint?" Haruka hazarded.

"Fortuneteller. That's a tarot card," Usagi explained. "Hadn't Umino gone to some new fortuneteller?"

"Yes. This appears to be a link," Ami said. She fiddled with her visor and examined the card more closely. "Interesting…this is very ingenious. Jadeite has disguised the spell pattern as the design on the back. It's designed to drain energy and to hypnotize the holder into committing certain chaotic actions. A lack of inhibitions, in a sense."

"So that's why everyone went crazy?"

"Correct. Excuse me!" Ami waved over a police officer. "Could you hold this for a moment? I'm going to try and track the path the drained energy follows."

"Uh, okay," she said hesitantly. "I'm not going to pass out or anything, right?"

"Not for several hours. Also, inform your comrades to take these cards off of anyone they apprehend and put them in a place far from people. Or just destroy them. Thank you, I have the path now." The officer tore the card in two and Ami led the senshi out of the building and onto the rooftops.

"You know where to go?" Haruka asked as they jumped across the roofs.

"I know the general direction. I imagine the fortune teller will be rather obvious once we arrive," Ami said.

"Alright, so do we have a plan, or do we just go in?" Usagi asked. "I vote to check it out first."

"We should be certain that there are no hostages in the way," Ami agreed.

"You guys are the veterans," Haruka said with a shrug. "I'm not going to talk much after I nearly got killed last time."

"That wasn't your fault."

"Maybe not, but once bitten and all that."

"I believe we're here," Ami said. Across the street was a store with a gaudy sign reading House of Fortune. Usagi hummed, activating her gems, and scanned the area.

"Do you see anything? My gems aren't picking anything up."

"I only see one normal human in back," Ami said. "However, I also see flows of energy converging on the building. This is the _place_, at least. Whether or not the _people_ are here remains to be seen."

"How about I go in, make some noise, and see if anything answers?" Haruka asked, cracking her knuckles.

"And what if nothing does?" Usagi replied. "Then you've wrecked a building and scared an innocent person."

"Better scared than drained."

"We do have the Disguise Pen, do we not?" pointed out Ami. "Haruka can go in as a customer and see if anything happens. If nothing does, then we the senshi can speak to the store owner about looking around for a youma."

"Sounds good to me," Usagi agreed, handing over the pink wand.

"Alright. Disguise power: make me a salary-man!" In a glow of light Haruka looked very much like her regular self, except for a business suit and six-o-clock shadow. She dropped down to the street and walked into the store.

"Hello?"

"Come in the back," said a melodious voice. Haruka stepped through the curtains and found herself looking at a beautiful woman garbed in sigil-covered cloth and chains. _I hope she isn't evil. I'd really like to get to know her better._

"How may I be of service?" the fortune-teller purred. Haruka resisted the urge to make an innuendo.

"I want to know if I'll get a promotion at work, or if I'm better off looking for another job."

"Have a seat. Now, touch the crystal ball." Haruka did so and, through her disguise, felt her tiara warm up. A hum filled the room and the hair on the back of her neck stood up. "Listen to my words. Highly confident and assured, you are certainly not demure. Take these cards—"

"Not happening," Haruka deadpanned, and stood up. "Now tell me where the youma is or I open a world of hurt on your head."

"How are you resisting my spell? This cannot be!"

"This can," Haruka replied, and dropped the disguise.

"Senshi!" she hissed, and lunged. Haruka jumped back through the curtains as the fortune-teller—as the youma overturned the table.

"Mercury Spray Shroud!" Ami called as they raced in to reinforce the outer senshi. The youma, mostly human until the waist, where she became a snake, leaned back on her coils. She raised the tip of her tail in front of her, and the crystal ball growing out of the end began to glow.

"Moon Tiara Magic!" The youma ducked under the disk almost as soon as it left Usagi's hand and made straight for her. "Eep!"

"Uranus Space Shock!" The yellow blast hit it in the face and shoved it away from Usagi. Then the tiara made its return trip, and its master gestured. The youma ducked under the spell just before it took her head off, and smashed Haruka across the room with a lash of its tail. Haruka then grabbed onto said tail and yanked.

"Aqua Bubble Burst!" It hissed as its entire torso was soaked and began to freeze.

"Moon Tiara Magic!" And then was dust.

"Not too bad," Haruka said.

"Yes. I was rather distracted by the fact that it read as a normal human to my visor, though."

"She wasn't, was she?" Usagi asked worriedly.

"No." Ami pointed. "The clothing and sigils are magically messing up my readings. This was a very good plan, in theory. Shall we be off?"

"Let's look around and make sure there's nothing we're missing," Usagi said.

"That's a very mature idea," Ami agreed.

"You just don't want to go back to school," Haruka teased. Usagi stuck her nose in the air.

"I admit nothing!"  
+++++++++++++++++

That afternoon they—plus a disguised Naru—assembled at the warehouse. "I don't believe we've met before," Sakka said politely upon seeing Sailor Uranus. "I am Inochitori Sakka, and I will be acting as the primary liason between the Sailor Senshi and our government. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

"Same," Haruka said with a grin. "And now that we've met, I have to ask…are we effected by anti-fraternization rules?"

"I'm sorry, I'm not looking for a relationship at this time," Sakka said with a polite smile.

"Back on topic, Uranus," Usagi said, elbowing her, "what do you think of the place?"

"Looks as good as any to me, and better than many," she said non-committedly.

"Right! First thing's first. Mercury, what did you want to discuss with everyone here?"

"Yes, that. Everyone gather round, please." Ami motioned them into a circle, signaling that Sakka could stay or leave as she wished. She opted to leave. "I was doing research into past tactics, and one of the things that came up were combination attacks."

"How so?" Naru asked.

"At the most basic, two senshi would cast to spells at the same time, and the spells would mix and reinforce each other. This works especially well with complementary elements, such as wind and fire, or water and lightning, but can be used with any element spells, within reason."

"How would I do this?" Usagi asked. "Does any of my stuff work? None of it seems like it would."

"According to my records, your tiara would work with this method, but likely not any of your other two spells. Similarly, my mist is not an offensive spell, so would not be ideal for this, but my bubbles would work. As Uranus only has the one spell, her options are limited, but the Uranus Space Shock should be combinable with other spells."

"And I don't have any," Naru said drily.

"C'mon Ceres, don't be like that," Usagi whined. "You're as important as any of us."

"Yeah, just 'cause you're not as good in a fight doesn't mean you're worthless," Haruka agreed. "Didn't you knock out Zoicite's lights once? With a bag of sand? Anyway, looks like we know what we're practicing today, though. I like the sound of these combinations."

"Yes, but that's not all. I discovered two other things worth noting, though only one is particularly usable."

"What?"

"The usable one is what is known as the Planetary Abilities. These are abilities that require two or more senshi in conjunction to use, but are very useful."

"Like what?"

"Teleportation, for one." Everyone stopped to think about that.

"Yeah, that does sound useful. What's the catch?"

"I have only found reference to two abilities thus far," Ami said. "The Planet Teleport and the Planet Attack. Both have the senshi using them link hands. Then they focus and flare their powers. I still haven't deciphered the details, though."

"Are there limits?" Usagi asked wisely.

"Well for one, you need two senshi working together. It doesn't work if one is unwilling, or unconscious, or alone. Also, they are draining and time consuming to use. It gets better with more senshi, but not the type of thing to use during a fight."

"So can you teleport anywhere?"

"To an extent. The Planet Teleport works best if it is on the same planet, and you have to know where you are going. The Planet Attack is essentially a guided burst of energy, so it can cause bad collateral damage."

"Got it! So we shouldn't use them until we're better than we are."

"Yes. Best to put these on the back-burner, for now. The last thing of interest I discovered is what's known as our crisis forms."

"Crisis forms?" Naru asked. "I'm betting that's some emergency fail-safe or something, right?"

"Correct. To begin with, do you know how much of our potential senshi power we channel when we are in uniform?"

"Not all of it, I'm guessing," Haruka said drily.

"It varies, but it's between five and fifteen percent, rarely going as high as thirty," Ami revealed.

"That little?" Naru asked. "That's crazy!"

"How do we increase it?" Usagi asked. "We need to be better if we want to protect people."

"We shouldn't increase it, because there's a reason for the limit. Being a senshi is an unnatural state that puts a unique strain on the body. At this low a level our healing works faster than we are hurt, but if we channel more power at a time we could damage our own bodies. Considering how much potential power we have at our disposal, even that small an amount is plenty for most purposes."

"But crisis changes that, right?" Naru guessed.

"Yes. During times of huge stress and danger, a senshi can 'go crisis form,' and call upon one-hundred percent of their abilities. At a cost."

"Let me guess," Haruka said, "it kills you."

"It can. At the very minimum it burns out our senshi abilities for a day or more. Sometimes even for several months or a year. And overuse of it can kill you."

"Good to know," Usagi said faintly.

"There is no way I know of to induce crisis form on purpose, but I felt it should be mentioned, just in case." She paused and grinned faintly. "Apparently there was a level of popular mystique around crisis forms in the past. Any time a senshi used theirs the form would get a name and everything. It was almost like there was a fanclub."

"People are people," Naru said with a sigh. "So are you guys going to work on the combination attacks now?"

"Sounds like a good place to start," Haruka said.

"Ceres, would you try out the prototype of the game I'm designing?" Am asked. "I need a few test runs before anything else." She handed over the Mercury computer.

"That's not getting you out of physical exercises," Haruka warned.

"I will," Naru said. She moved off to the side while the others pulled a crate into the center of the room and aimed.

"On three," Usagi said. "One. Two. Five! Just kidding!"

"One," said Haruka.

"Two," said Ami.

"Three!" At Usagi's call, the crate exploded. Unfortunately, it exploded because it was hit by three separate attacks, instead of a combination. "Aw, man. I guess this is gonna take some practice after all."

"Practice makes perfect." More than half an hour of tries later (they stopped using crates after the fifth blew up) something happened.

"Moon Tiara Magic!"

"Aqua Bubble Burst!"

"Uranus Space Shock!"

The three spells' trajectories matched up, and the tiara transformed into a glowing ring of ice that left a visible trail of frost on the floor. Usagi grinned.

"Wicked."  
++++++++++++++++++

Extra: The previous generation

**Venus  
****Name:** Burche (like birch, the tree, except with a sh sound)  
**Appearance:** Green eyes and golden-blonde hair. 5' 7" and 168 lbs. When long, she wore her hair in a braid, but she occasionally cut it to shoulder length. Wore heels.  
**Rank:** Third cousin of Queen Aphrodite, but niece of King Ares. (She could become the Venusian senshi despite her closer bond to Mars because she was born on Venus.)

She had strong psychic abilities, but lacked great physical strength. Combined with her Venusian mana, she was an excellent sensor, able to identify when people were lying, afraid, ill, and in a relationship—not just love, but family, or even a master-servant loyalty. She could also track auras over great distance. She was very gentle and kind with those she liked, but could be petty and spiteful when upset, and held onto her grudges.

Due to her comparatively low fighting skills, she mostly stuck to long-range combat, providing unerring sniper fire. She preferred her bow for this, but was equally skilled with spells and ballistics/firearms/phasers. At 200 yards she could hit a man-sized target 7/10 times blindfolded, and could target not only the center of mass, but limbs, joints, and cracks in armor. Favorite spell: _Lovely Bow and Eros._

She died in the terrorist attack that took Lunarian King Agape's life. She originally took a blow intended for him, and killed three attackers before she expired, in spite of losing one of her eyes. This is in addition to shooting spells aimed at her comrades out of mid-air as she was on the ground while the poison worked.

*Her most capable potential successor was unenthusiastic, and gladly handed off the mantle to Princess Mina when she showed interest and ability a few years later.  
+++++++++++++

Next chapter is either going to be the first Shadow Warrior/Rainbow Crystal, or an interlude about Sailor Mars in England. We'll see how things go.


	15. Casting a Shadow

I don't own Sailor Moon.  
+++++++++++++++

"Jadeite!" The blond teleported in front of his leader and knelt. "Report."

"My Queen, the senshi found my operation faster than I had anticipated," Jadeite confessed.

"Do you have any effort to show for your efforts?"

"Yes, your majesty," he said, and a few motes of glowing light drifted into the prison of the sleeping Metaria.

"I expect better in the future, Jadeite."

"I understand, your majesty."

"He's doing better than Zoicite," Nephrite commented from the side.

"And better than you," Jadeite snapped.

"Do you have anything to report, Nephrite?" He knelt.

"Yes, my queen. I have discerned the identity of one Shadow Warrior, and am closing in on a second. Before I awaken our lost comrade, I wish to know what you want done afterwards?"

"Afterwards? Bring me the crystal, of course!"

"Of course, my queen. I meant, after I have awoken the Shadow Warrior. Should we return here immediately, or attempt to engage the senshi."

"Hmm…" Beryl contemplated the options. "Allow the Shadow Warrior to engage the senshi, but do not do so yourself, for fear of losing the crystal. We shall see how they match up in combat."

"As you wish, your majesty."

"Jadeite, when will your next operation be ready?"

"Not for several days, your majesty. But I promise it will make up for slowness with scale."

"It had better."  
++++++++++++++++++

Usagi, Ami, Haruka, Naru, and Luna had all gathered at Haruka's apartment. They'd done homework, weren't planning any training for the moment, and were simply having fun.

"No way!"

"Is so!"

Or, as the case may be, bickering.

"Aino Minako is definitely more popular than Kaioh Michiru," Naru swore, brandishing a CD case.

"Not on your life," Haruka argued. "Kaioh Michiru is one of the greatest musicians in the country! Aino Minako is just one of a million come-and-go pop idols. In five years, no one will remember her name!"

"In three years people won't know who Kaioh is! Heck, people barely know about her now! Minako is on all the hit radio stations and has done a few television appearances!"

"If people barely know about her now, how did you know about her?" Haruka asked. "I can name a dozen pop artists just as good as love-girl. How many other classical _geniuses_ do you know?"

"Is music really this important?" Ami asked, watching the ongoing argument with wide eyes.

"No, but musicians are," Usagi replied. "Personally, I like Minako, but I listen to Michiru when I want to go to sleep."

"Why?"

"Only the songs she sings. They remind me of mom's lullabies." Both girls winced at another outburst. "You want me to stop them?"

"Yes, please."

"Hey guys! Ami says she thinks The Wandering Stars beats both your favorites!"

"_Heathen_!" both girls yelled at the bluenette. They promptly turned their noses up and gave each other the silent treatment.

"Note to self: Ami, the next time you want to ask Usagi for a favor, don't. Ditto for doing her a favor."

"Hey, they stopped, didn't they?" At this point, Luna bolted up from the cushion she'd been napping on and produced a communicator with a flip. It was beeping.

"What's the situation?"

"Emergency!" It was Tsuruko's voice. They hadn't known she could sound that frightened. "A man set up a barrier in city hall and is torturing Ken! We can't get through, and he's got a wolf youma keeping us busy!"

"We'll be there soon!" The room was filled with transformations and then the three senshi rushed off. Naru simply grabbed Luna and decided to stay as a home base this time.  
++++++++++++

(A few minutes earlier)

Nephrite stood on the roof of a building, examining the black crystal in his hand. There was no doubt. The first of the Shadow Warriors was residing in the building below him. _I wonder which one it will be? Perhaps I'll get lucky and find Bakane on the first try. Likely not, though._ There was a scraping noise behind him. "Is everything ready, youma Kerberos?" he asked without turning around.

"I have scented around the park and the other buildings, general Nephrite," responded the lupine youma. "My findings indicate that the senshi are not in the immediate area."

"Let's hope it stays that way," Nephrite muttered. A figure moved into view through a window and the black crystal glowed slightly. "Our target has appeared. Let us go say hello." He teleported himself and his youma into the room. The old man he targeted swung around to look at him, everyone else yelling in surprise. "Hello."

"Who are AAaargh!" Black lightning lashed out of the crystal and wrapped itself around the man, crackling like laughter. Nephrite heard people begin screaming as Kerberos moved to keep them out of the general's hair. Nephrite had to focus. The seal Queen Serenity used on the Shadow Warrior was frighteningly strong. With a gesture he erected a shimmering barrier around the two of them. This would take a while.

Finally, the protective silver glow around the man flickered and the skin of his hands began to swell like a balloon. The change was beginning.  
++++++++++++++++

The three senshi dropped down in front of the city hall's main doors, burst inside, and followed the sounds of screaming. They came upon the sight of a large, three-headed wolf youma fighting with Tsuruko and several other men and woman. Usagi's gut twisted when she saw two people lying in pools of blood, but she had to focus on the fight.

"Moon Tiara Magic!" The youma ducked away from the spell, forcing its left head to release Tsuruko's sword. The left head then turned toward her and exhaled a stream of flames.

"Aqua Bubble Burst!" Ami countered, extinguishing them.

"Uranus Space Shock!" The youma dodged the attack, which blasted a small hole in part of the wall, and blew out a stream of black smoke from another head.

"Be careful! That's toxic!"

"Let me try. Uranus Space Shock!" The wider version of her attack directed the smoke to the other side of the room where it could harmlessly waft out the hole in the wall.

"Combo?" Usagi suggested.

"Let's," agreed Ami.

"I'll be the distraction," Haruka volunteered and rushed forward. It took care to get a combination attack right, so they'd decided that two of them would attack while the third ran interference.

"On three. One…Two…Three! Moon Tiara Magic!"

"Aqua Bubble Burst!"

The deluge wrapped itself around the glowing disc, tinting it blue. Haruka jumped out of the way when she felt the cold prickle her back, and the spell hit the youma dead on, dusting it with a howl.

"Good. Now what do we do about that?" Usagi pointed to the barrier, frowning. "Think we can get through?"

"It is bullet-proof, and my attack caused it to waver, but not break," Tsuruko volunteered.

"Another combo attack?"

"That should suffice," Ami agreed. "On three."

"One. Two Three!" The three-spell combination hit the barrier, and with a groan it shattered. "Manju-sensei!"

The sight of the poor priest was undoubtedly nightmare inducing. Most of his clothes had been burned away by the storm of conflicting energies, so there was nothing to cover the warping of his body. Most notably, two triangular bulges on his back were pulling his skin taught to the point of breaking. Then, his hands and arms had swollen up like balloons and appeared ready to pop. Finally, his face looked as though something had grabbed his chin and forehead and was pulling them apart as hard as possible. The skin was stretching, and it began to tear with a wet squelch…

"No!"

"Yes," muttered Nephrite. "Awaken, Shadow Warrior!" With a final scream the priest's skin tore apart and burst into dust, revealing the figure of the Shadow Warrior. The room was dead silent, and no one even thought to stop Nephrite as he bent down and picked up the orange crystal that had fallen to the floor. "Please allow me, General Nephrite, to welcome you back to the world."

"Bokushi lives!" the twisted angel shouted. It was roughly the same size and shape as a person, except about half a head taller than Ken had been. Its skin was the color of a washed-out spray-on tan, and in place of hands it had two boxing gloves. Lastly, there were two wings growing out of its back, and it was naked from the waist up, displaying a body that, on a human, would be attractively muscled.

"Shit," Usagi said.

"Understatement," agreed Haruka.

"Shadow Warrior Bokushi, I need to return to our base with the crystal. Would you care to revenge yourselves on the senshi while I am gone?" It simply grinned and took a step towards them. A black blur flew in through the window and Nephrite caught Tuxedo Kamen's cane on his arm.

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that," said Kamen.

"What, leave? You don't have a choice." Nephrite teleported away.

_Dammit!_

"So…how are we gonna do this?" Usagi asked uncertainly.

"You start by dying," Bokushi said, its voice rasping like sand, and slammed a fist into Usagi's face faster than they could see. Her head smashed into the wall just as Kamen and Haruka attacked. Bokushi shot straight up into the air and both had to pull their punches.

"Mercury Spray Shroud!" The room filled with mist, but the Shadow Warrior just flapped his wings, clearing an area around itself, though not dispersing the mist.

"Moon Tiara Magic!"

"Uranus Space Shock"

Bokushi dodged under the tiara without blinking and actually batted the air attack away with a fist. It dropped back to the floor and punched down. The floor broke.

Usagi barely caught the edge of the hole before falling through. The youma smiled as it sighted her, only for Haruka to come flying out of the mist and slam a flying kick into its chest. The momentum carried both of them across the far edge of the hole and onto the solid floor. It was the work of a moment to have Usagi in his arms and safe.

Usagi almost winced as she saw Uranus drive a heel into its groin, to no effect. Then she screamed as it punched Uranus away, the tall blonde flying across the room while the Shadow warrior curled up into a ball of pain.

"Moon! Can you try to heal him?" Ami called.

"Moon Scepter Purification!" was her response. The magical glow latched onto Bokushi, who shrieked in rage. It didn't return the Shadow Warrior to normal, though. Instead Bokushi tore itself away from the glow and zoomed out the window, hovering in the air. "I can't get it like this!"

"We'll need to cut it down to about half strength, by my readings," Ami told her. "Maybe more. And it hasn't recovered its full abilities yet."

"Harder than it sounds," Haruka grumbled. "Just peachy."

"See if we can get it into the park across the street so no one gets hurt," Usagi ordered.

"I can act as bait," Kamen volunteered.

"Thank you. Don't get hurt. Merc, any strategies?"

"I should try to ice up its wings and restrain its mobility. Beyond that, nothing for certain yet. Don't be afraid to it hard, though. Nothing short of instant and immediate death is irreparable."

"So we can beat it up and Manju-sensei will be fine?"

"Yes. I would advise using your Mirror Light, and also your gems."

"Got it. Uranus, you and Kamen lure it to the park and pick fights. I'll grab his attention and Merc freezes him from behind. Then wail on this thing until it goes down and we get Manju-sensei back."

"Got it!"

"Sounds good." The two of them blurred out the hole in the wall, launching their attacks at the hovering youma.

"Hey ugly! Your momma was a flea-bitten moose, and your dad was a blind buzzard!" Haruka yelled. Bokushi didn't blink. "Um…Soot for brains! Stupid head! Angel wanna-be reject," Haruka tried.

"Your taunts leave something to be desired," Kamen commented.

"We're in a public park. Do you want me to be dropping f-bombs around impressionable children?"

"Just saying. Don't you have any better insults?"

"I couldn't care less about your meaningless words," Bokushi drawled.

"Says you, ham hands!"

"_DIIIIIIIIE_!" it shrieked in unholy fury, and slammed Haruka across the road with a single punch. It was back on her before she hit the dirt, delivering a series of punishing jabs that actually cratered the ground. Haruka practically felt her ribs creak from the strain as her chest and stomach erupted into starburst of pain. _Is that blood I'm tasting?_ But since they were in the park now, mission accomplished. She twisted and vomited onto the ground, noting a few specks of blood.

"Aqua Bubble Burst!" Bokushi simply flew up out of range again, allowing Kamen to scoop up Uranus and get her under cover.

"Hand off my ass, or I make you eat your balls," she growled weakly. Even if he was healing her, he was...well, a _he._ Kamen dropped her with a friendly grin and tossed a rose that the Shaodw Warrior ducked under.

"You need to do better than that," Bokushi deadpanned. At this point a metal trashcan came flying through the air and into its head. It staggered in the air as Usagi jumped after her make-shift projectile. She grabbed onto the trashcan, swung herself, and slammed her heal into its head. Then she jumped off the youma as it fell, driving it into the ground.

"Better? Moon Tiara Magic!" The spell hit the youma just as it threw the trashcan off and rose up.

Bokushi suddenly found itself missing one arm.

"Oh! I hope that heals," Usagi said, worrying about having crippled the priest on the inside. Bokushi snorted, and the stump twisted, sprouting a red blob that grew into another fist as its arm re-lengthened. "Not that fast!"

"Uranus Space Shock!"

"Aqua Bubble Burst!"

The two spells combined into a literal wave of high-speed ice that flash froze everything within its path for fifteen feet and snapped the branches off trees.

"Good!" Cheered Usagi. "Now I just need a few seconds with the Scepter," the ice shattered and Bokushi stood there looking as bored as ever, "and I jinxed it. Of course."

"Next," the Shadow Warrior deadpanned, the look—almost like a pout—appearing odd compared to its usual manic grin. Then it blurred in front of Ami, upper-cutted her ten feet into the air, and at the apex of her flight reappeared above her and slammed her back into the ground.

"Uranus Space Shock!" she shouted as it descended. Then—despite lacking fingers—it grabbed her as a human shield against Haruka's spell.

"Crap! Mercury! Are you all right?" Ami gurgled. Usagi scowled.

"I'm taking this up a level. Moon Tiara Magic." She carved a gash along the side of her ribs, down to her stomach. "Get her free. YAAAAAAHHH!" The Shadow Warrior flinched at the sound and Uranus and Kamen both exploded forward. Both got punched away for their efforts, but Haruka had grabbed onto Ami as she was thrown back, and took the bluenette with her. Usagi was on it like the wrath of…well, Usagi. Her tiara cut one of its gloves in half, and then she over-extended and cut off a wing. Bokushi punched her in the stomach hard enough that the impacted point was smoking, but she got her wind back before it got its wing back.

"Mirror Light Escalation!"

Bokushi reared back both fists.

The world flashed pink. Silence reigned for a few moments.

"What." Kamen couldn't believe his eyes.

"Please tell me I'm dreaming," Ami said, looking at the smoking trench the pink spell had carved, and the figure crumpled at the end.

"I wish you were," said Haruka. "I really do."

"So I really just saw it punch her attack back at her?" Haruka looked at the Shadow Warrior with the smoking fists.

"Yes. Yes you did."

"We're going to die."

"Yes. Yes we are."

At the end of the trench, in a smoking crater caused by her own reflected attack, Usagi stirred and groaned. In an instant, Tuxedo Kamen was at her side, filling her full of healing magic.  
+++++++++++++++

Over a dozen blocks away, there was a building. In the basement of this building was a room. In this room, there was nothing but burnt paper and mangled metal. Something had found out about the fight. Something had broken out. Something was coming.  
+++++++++++++++

Kamen back-flipped away from the downed senshi to dodge a fist aimed at his skull, and Bokushi simultaneously slammed a fist into where Usagi's head was. Where her head had been.

Kamen had grabbed her when he jumped and she rolled out of his arms and onto the ground, barely managing to stand.

"Careful," he warned, "you're still hrrck." Bokushi had decked _him_ this time, though she had rolled out of the way, sliding between Uranus and Mercury's attacks, Usagi's head was still swimming, and she stumbled. She activated her gems and screamed as Haruka raced past her, aiming a kick at the Shadow Warrior's head. It looked like it was going to punch her foot, in spite of the sonic attack, when a thrown rose scraped the bridge of its nose and it flinched away. Haruka's heel hit the bridge of its nose and she drove it back down to the ground, stomping on it several times.

"Uranus Space Shock!"

"Aqua Bubble Burst," Ami added, running up beside her. "Aqua Bubble Burst!" She kept pouring on the ice as Usagi pulled herself together.

"Give me a sec…" she groaned. "Moon…Scepter…" The ice exploded with a scream, sending fragments everywhere, and Usagi flinched back to cover her eyes. Bokushi slammed a fist into the ground. The ground exploded, kicking up a cloud of dirt and rocks.

"Toguro wanna be," she groaned when she came to a few seconds later. She realized that Tuxedo Kamen was hovering over her protectively, and shot him a shy smile as she got to her feet. "Are you guys okay?" she called to the two, downed senshi, who both groaned. Worse, Bokushi had vanished.

"I'll live," Ami gurgled.

"Same," said Haruka, standing.

"Where'd he go?" Usagi asked, looking around. She screamed, just to be safe. It saved her life.

Bokushi fell from above like a thunderbolt, and slammed all of his power into a fist to her face. Only because of her yell did he flinch and hit her forehead, where her tiara protected her, instead of smashing her nose into her brain. It still sent her tumbling back, though Kamen caught her quickly.

"Gale Shredder!" screamed a furious Haruka, and the unexpected spell took off one of its wings. Green blood fountained out, spattering the grass.

"Combo it," yelled Ami. They sent another wave off ice at the grounded youma while Kamen jumped out of the way. They kept hammering the frozen area, adding layer after layer of ice. Usagi groaned and stirred.

"What hit me?"

"A youma," answered Kamen. Are you all right? You have a nasty concussion, but I'm healing it. Don't move."

"But Manju-sensei—"

"Isn't going anywhere for a while," he assured her. A few seconds later, she rolled out of his arms.

"Good enough. I'll live," she argued. "We need to heal him _now."_

"As you wish," Kamen agreed, backing off. There was a sickening crack as a large part of the ice broke off.

"Let's knock it down for good," Usagi growled. "Mirror Light Escalation!" The pink blast instantly vaporized the ice and blew Bokushi across the field. "Don't let him get up! He can take it!" Spells hit the recovering youma almost simultaneously. Bokushi punched itself, breaking off almost all of the ice, and it fists blurred into motion as it turned the shards into a spray of projectiles.

"Moon Tiara Magic!" Usagi drew a shallow cut along her chest and sent her tiara skimming across the ground. The youma jumped to one side to avoid it and Ami's ice hit it cleanly. "Mirror Light Escalation!" The flash of pink plasma blew it across the clearing. Usagi dropped to one knee as her wounds throbbed, a painfully reminder of her power's price.

Ami sent another Bubble Burst, and it punched the jet of water, resulting in a spray of icicles they had to dodge.

"Gale Shredder!" Haruka had fallen in love with her new spell, which clipped Bokushi's left wing when it tried to dodge. Usagi screamed and it flinched as Ami's ice immobilized its legs. "Gale Shredder!"

"Moon Tiara Magic!" The two spells were time perfectly to create a new combo that carved a several inch deep gash in the ground as it flew. Had Bokushi not _punched_ itself out of the way, the spell would have bisected it. As the self-inflicted bruise on its chest began to disappear, the tiara began a return trip, and Usagi flicked her wrist. Bokushi flapped its wings and moved, but lost one leg at the knee.

_We can do this,_ Usagi thought as she caught her tiara, at which point Bokushi counter-attacked.

It reared back one arm and punched, firing its fist like a rocket. The move was so unexpected that it knocked Usagi heels-over-head again, although she wasn't in good enough condition to dodge, admittedly. She skidded several feet back, and it was another few seconds before the world stopped spinning.

"Worms!" roared the Shadow Warrior, and slammed its other fist into the ground. A geyser of dirt and rock blew into the air, and its fist blurred as it punched, creating a machine-gun like spray of stones and pebbles.

"My eyes," yelled Haruka.

"Mercury Spray Shroud," called Ami, her visor protecting her vision. The hail of stone still hurt, though. "Fall back and regroup," she called, and the four warriors disappeared into the trees.

"You can't hide forever," growled Bokushi, but it decided to stay where it was and heal for a moment.  
++++++++++++++++

"Tux-boy, can you help me out?" Haruka was nearly blind from the grit in her eyes. Kamen accordingly touched a hand to her face.

"Wait," said Mercury, "she won't heal entirely unless we wash her eyes out first." Fitting word to deed she whispered an incantation and conjured a weak spray of water directly into the tall blonde's face.

"Cold!" she yelped and pulled away, but her vision was already clearing up.

"And now it's your turn," Kamen said, laying his hands on Usagi. She squirmed.

"Hurry it up, please," she whined. "Every second _I_ heal, _it_ heals too, remember? Do you have a plan, Mercury?"

"Yes, I've gathered a large quantity of useful data from our interactions," she agreed. "My part in this will have to be important, as I can slow down the healing process."

"You can? How?"

"Freezing the Shadow Warrior's wounds will slow its regeneration to the point of non-existence, similar to the way Hercules scorched the hydra's necks."

"Er, what?"

"In Greek mythology," explained Kamen, "a monster called a hydra could regrow its severed heads. The hero used a fire on its neck to stop that from happening. You can do the same with ice, you mean?"

"Yes. My abilities will slow it down, weaken its healing, and can imprison it in ice. I suggest the following strategy: Moon and Uranus both attack it up close with overwhelming power, I will freeze it whenever I see an opening, and Kamen both protects me and keeps the youma from escaping the assault."

"So I just beat the crud out of it?" Usagi asked.

"I would recommend that you use your tiara, and Uranus use her new spell, as cut wounds should be the easiest to deal and the simplest to freeze. Kamen will thro a rose before I attack, so get out of the way."

"Good idea. How badly should we hurt it before we can get Manju-sensei back?" Usagi asked.

"Lying on the ground and unable to get up, I recommend."

"Alright," Usagi said reluctantly, and firmed up. "Let's go kick youma butt."  
+++++++++++++++

They appeared back at the clearing and Bokushi immediately fired its fist at Usagi, who simply ducked under the attack. It had had to rip off its wing stump before the frozen wound would heal properly and was still only half-done, so Bokushi was grounded for the moment. The senshi charged.

"Gale Shredder!" It jumped over the glowing arc and met them head on, drilling its fist at their faces. Usagi ducked and screamed.

"YAAAAHHH!" Haruka, on the other hand, slipped around its fist, grabbed its wrist, and swung her leg into its head. The weight change threw it off balance and Bokushi tumbled over as Usagi tackled it, pausing for breath. "Moon Tiara Magic!"

Bokushi was pinned to the ground and lost the almost healed wing. Haruka twisted and the arm she held broke with a crack. "KYYYAAAHHH!" The Shadow Warrior kicked out with surprising strength and dug its foot into Haruka's side, only for a rose to glance off its chest. Haruka and Usagi immediately rolled out of the way and deluge of freezing water poured onto the youma, forming a half-inch thick layer of ice. Cracks spread along the coating as the prisoner flexed.

"Combo it! Moon Tiara Magic!"

"Gale Shredder!" Haruka yelled. Surprisingly, the new combo again worked perfectly, the arc of razor-sharp air wrapping around the disk of power and biting into the youma. With a flash, Bokushi fell in two pieces, having been cut from the left hip to right ribcage and elbow, losing that arm. It screamed, but was still beginning to heal. Its flesh bubbled at the wounded spots, cutting off the flow of vicious green blood, and tendrils of orange meat began to sprout, replacing what was lost.

"I'm so glad it's hard to kill," sighed Usagi, "I'd hate to hurt Manju-sensei." Her Tiara returned to her and she pulled out the Moon Scepter. "Moon…Scepter…"

"I won't go back!" Bokushi fired another rocket-fist straight the immobile senshi, who froze. Kamen burst into motion, throwing himself in front of her. The fist crashed into his chest and he jumped, the momentum carrying him less then four inches over the blonde's head. She smirked and nodded in thanks, re-firming her resolve.

"Healing!" She staggered as the scepter sucked at her energy levels to fuel the spell. The glow reached out eager fingers towards the prone Shadow Warrior, who screamed and tried to crawl away as it neared. Seeing it in such a state of terror, Usagi mused, was half cathartic and half pitiable.

"Dark Star Shower," intoned a familiar voice, and silver bursts of power rained onto the field. One hit Usagi dead on, and she went flying back, her concentration on the spell breaking. "It appears I made it just in time," he said, tossing a burst of dark power toward the downed youma to aid its recovery. Nephrite had returned.

"We just can't catch a break, can we?" Haruka growled as Kamen caught his wind and helped Usagi to her feet.

"I'd be happy to give you a break," Nephrite replied with a charming smile as he dropped down to ground level. "Arm, leg, or neck?"

"Mercury Spray Shroud!" Fog once again covered the area as Bokushi rose to its feet. The senshi used the cover to pull back, but Nephrite snorted. "I don't need to see you to target you," he commented lightly, closing his eyes. Silver and purple energy gathered around him and exploded up into the air. "Dark Star Shower."

"Dammit," Haruka hissed as he peppered the area with attacks. "Moon, please tell me we have a plan."

"Don't give up," Usagi said stiffly, getting back to her feet. "What? Don't give me that look, Mercury's the genius here."

"A Shadow Warrior and a General? The most we could hope for is to improvise a Planet Attack."

"A Planet Attack?"

"A massively overwhelming magical power burst," she told Kamen. "The danger is that we've never done one before though we know the theory, and while it might take care of Nephrite, it might also be one of the few things that could kill completely Bokushi, and thus the person he used to be as well." Usagi looked sick.

"We'll have to risk it," she decided. "It only takes two, right?"

"It can work with two, but three or four is better."

"Two," Usagi said firmly. "You and Uranus do it, while I draw Manju-sensei out of the line of fire. Tuxedo Kamen, can you watch our backs?"

"As you wish," he said, conjuring a rose. The group scattered as Nephrite raked the area with another rain of blasts.

"I know you're still in the area: Mercury's mist hasn't faded," he called. The fully healed Bokushi took to the skies.

"You can't," Haruka exclaimed, "that's too dangerous!"

"So is doing nothing. Break!" Usagi bolted towards Nephite. "Moon Tiara Magic!"

Haruka swore and turned to Ami. "How do we do this?"

"Link hands. Focus on both our powers, pull them up and out. Closing your eyes helps." Haruka did so, drowning out the rest of the world as she found her center. She felt the golden glow of her powers and realized with a shock that she could feel the icy well of Mercurian magic as well. "Pull them both out, and lash out with them." Usagi's scream echoed in her ears and she almost lost her hold on the power, taking precious seconds to regain control. Suddenly, something clicked.

"_Yes_," they both whispered. Ami and Haruka's eyes shot open simultaneously, and they found themselves wreathed in a shining nimbus of magic, glowing like a gold and blue bonfire. "_Sailor Planet Attack_." The magic twisted and lashed out through the thinning fog like a whip, straight at Nephrite.

His eyes widened. "Fuck." The blast tore up the ground and let loose a shockwave like a bomb, blinding and deafening everyone nearby.

"General!" screeched Bokushi, pulling away from Usagi and taking to the skies. Kamen took the chance to reapply some healing magic, as the small blonde was in need of it. Gold sparks played across her body, but they seems sluggish and wane.

"I don't have much healing left in me," he warned.

"Save it," she ordered, "I'm good right now."

"Did we get him?" an exhausted Haruka asked, dropping to her knees.

"That was close." the senshi's blood ran cold, and their heads snapped to the side. Nephrite was across the clearing, leaning against a tree, unharmed. "Teleportation is a wonderful trick, isn't it?" He crossed his arms in front of his chest as everyone stared in horror. Power gathered in front of him. "Celestial Strike." The blast took the form of a pale ball of power with two smaller bursts in orbit around it.

And it was on course straight for Usagi's head. Tuxedo Kamen scooped her out of the way and the blast went on to pulverize two trees in the distance.

"You worms are nothing before the might of the Dark Kingdom!" crowed Bokushi. "Praise be to Great Metaria, queen of darkness, ruler of all that is!"

"Is that so?" gurgled a familiar voice. Everyone's head snapped around to see Glurg emerging from the trees.

_This is either really good, or we're screwed,_ Usagi thought. It all depended on why Glurg was here. Whoever's side it took…

"You're alive! Wonderful news," Nephrite announced pompously. "Allow me to do the introductions. Shadow Warrior Bokushi, this is Shadow Warrior Glurg, of the second generation. Shadow Warrior Glurg, this is you predecessor Bokushi. And may I add it is good to see you again. Queen Beryl had feared that you had passed away in conflict with the senshi."

"It was close," Glurg rumbled, lumbering over to them. It stopped and examined the orange angel closely. "You…I recognize the scent of your soul. You used to be human, right?"

"Yes," Bokushi hissed. "You say you knew me? I believe I was a priest, or something stupid like that." It laughed mockingly. "The darkness is to be embraced, not opposed! Come, let us destroy the senshi and gain glory in the name of great Metaria!" Glurg rumbled in response as the senshi pulled themselves into ready positions.

"I'd rather have my friend back," Glurg rumbled, and shot Bokushi out of the sky with a stream of slime.

"_What_ the hell is _this_?" Nephrite yelled.

"Yes!" Usagi hissed. Hope had returned.

"I'm defecting," Glurg rumbled at Nephrite, and shot another stream of slime that he dodged. "You senshi get him healed, I'll deal with the General."

"Got it!" Usagi yelled, and bolted toward the downed youma.  
+++++++++++++++++

"What is this stuff?" Bokushi growled as it rose up. The gunk had covered its wings, so it wouldn't be able to fly, and it was sticky and heavy. Even moving was causing problems. By way of an answer, Usagi kicked it in the face.

"Uranus Space Shock!"

"Aqua Bubble Burst!"

"Uranus Space Shock!"

And the fight continued on, pummeling the incapacitated youma with spells faster than it could react or recover. It swung a fist at Usagi.

"Moon Tiara Magic!" she doubled over as the punch connected, but Bokushi lost the fist. Usagi immediately rolled out of the way as Ami froze the stump of an arm. "You've been disarmed," she wheezed. "Surrender now and let us heal you."

"Tis but a flesh wound," Bokushi replied drily. "I still have one arm." One arm which Tuxedo Kamen grabbed, slamming his cane into the Shadow Warrior's head.

"Gale Shredder!"

"Aqua Bubble Burst!"

"Moon Tiara Magic!"

After the hail of magic, Bokushi ended up on the ground with both arms and legs severed and the stumps frozen over. It grit its teeth and glared at the senshi. "Come over here you cowards! I can still bite you."

"Yeah…no. Moon…Scepter…Healing!" The glow reached out and enveloped Bokushi as it screamed. The youma began to glow, and it's form warped and shifted. Usagi gritted her teeth and focused, the strain feeling like a full-body bruise. Finally, the glow faded away to reveal Manju Ken. Naked.

"I didn't want to see that," she groaned, and fainted.  
+++++++++++++++

"This is treason," Nephrite threatened. Glurg blew out a stream of slime and Nephrite countered with a burst of dark energy. "Queen Beryl will have your head on a silver platter, if you are lucky. Why would you betray your comrades?" Glurg blew out a stream of fire that Nephrite dodged, and the youma shrugged off his counterattack with ease.

"I felt like it," the Shadow Warrior grumbled. "My reasons are my own. I'm on my own side, really. It's just that I liked that old priest. Otherwise I might have helped."

"That ship has sailed, I feel," Nephrite responded, dodging again.

"Then I shall simply have to kill you," Glurg rumbled.

"Me first," Nephrite countered. Then the scream split the air, and Nephrite saw Bokushi return to human form. Salor Moon fell over, but the other two turned toward him. "You know what? Screw this, I'm out of here." He teleported away.

"I guess we win," Haruka said.  
+++++++++++++++

"How do you feel?" the nurse asked Ken once he woke up.

"Like I was run over by a truck," he groaned. He saw Sailor Moon out of the corner of his eye. "I was attacked, wasn't I?"

"Yeah," said Usagi, moving into view. "Apparently you were one of the crystal carriers, and they found you first. You got turned into this angel thingy with boxing gloves."

"How…interesting," he wheezed. "Since I'm still alive I assume you found a way to heal me?"

"Yeah, the Scepter worked. It took a couple of tries, and you beat us up a lot, but we eventually made it stick. Glurg was a big help, though."

"Glurg?"

"He broke out of his cell and showed up right when we were getting our butts kicked. Fought the general—Nephrite—all on his own and used his slimy goopy ick stuff to help us beat up Bokushi. That was what the youma called itself."

"Where is he now?"

"The staff worried he was unsanitary, so he's back in his cell. He told you to stop by when you can."

"Thank you. I will. Did you get the crystal?" Usagi wilted at the question.

"No. Nephrite grabbed it before we could. But there's still six more!"

"True. All is not yet lost," he assured her tiredly. "Now if you don't mind, I'd rather like…to sleep…" He dozed off and the blonde senshi snuck out with a smile.  
+++++++++++++++

"Alright. We won, but only just," Usagi told the group at the meeting. "We need to be better. Next time we might not get so lucky."

"Hopefully next time we'll get there first," Haruka groaned. "How did you guys not know that this Manju-sensei person was a crystal carrier?"

"We only met him before Usagi obtained the Scepter, and hadn't seen him since," said Naru. "What were the chances?"

"Very good," Usagi snapped. "Look, the Ginzuisho and Queen Serenity set up some fate thing so that we'd find the crystals, right? I bet that means that it's going to be people that we know or we're going to meet them." Naru hissed.

"Fuck. Usagi, first chance we get I want you to check my mom for a crystal. Ami's mom too, probably."

"My mother already encountered the Scepter at the hospital, and it didn't react," Ami pointed out. "Similarly, we've eliminated our classmates, most of the people at the Crown, including Motoki and Mamoru, and the hospital workers."

"What about the police who helped us out with Zoicite?" Naru realized. "Should we drop by the police station to be sure?"

"I'll do that tomorrow," Usagi promised. "What about Hino-sensei? I've been meaning to go back to Hikawa for a while and kept forgetting. It's a good chance to start those lessons, too. We'll need all the help we can get, if the other Shadow Warriors are like this one was."

"Call and set something up," suggested Haruka. "Also, could I borrow the Scepter for a day or two? I want to check if any of my classmates are carriers, and you can't exactly walk around my school all day."

"That's a good idea," Usagi agreed. She produced the Scepter with a flourish and tossed it over. "Scan them tomorrow, then we'll check out the police station, and I'll see when Hino-sensei can start my lessons. Anything to add, Luna?"

The mau perked up from the pillow she'd been lying on. "I'm proud to say: nothing. You girls are being very mature in how you handle this. I'm almost beginning to feel unnecessary." Usagi grinned.

"You know, you're right! Maybe we should set you to chasing youma mice, now, huh?"

"If you want to type up the report about what happened, go ahead," the mau threatened.

"Eep! Actually Luna you're a really really important member of the team!" Usagi hastily assured her. "We couldn't live without you!"

"I thought not." Luna smirked and rose, arching her back. "I'll talk with Artemis and Sailor M about the upcoming plans."

"Great! Meeting over. Let's head home," Usagi announced. She stood, stretched, and stumbled. "Eh, Haruka? Could you give me a ride? I'm sore…"  
++++++++++++++

Tsuruko sat by Ken's bedside, filling out paperwork. "Anything that needs my signature?" he wheezed.

"No. This is just reports," she responded.

"You feel guilty," he said. It wasn't an accusation. She wished it was.

"Yes. I keep thinking of the ways we could have prevented this. Stopped it before it even began! If I had only taken them to meet you face to face once after they gained that wand, they could have healed you before anyone was endangered!"

"Having doubts about their competence?" he asked quietly.

"I am not certain that I have your faith. They're just children! They might be strong, and have magic unheard of, but they have their limits."

"And so do we. That is why we are cooperating, instead of turning this into a three-way war. What would you do in their stead?"

"The _first_ _thing_ I would do is inspect everyone I actually know so that I can be certain!"

"And how certain are you that they did not? Such searches take time. I may have been low down on their list, and they simply did not get to me fast enough. If, of course, they know me well enough to be on such a list. If you were in their shoes, who would you search first? Those you could easily reach, or your sister, who lives far from your home in Kyoto, and who would eat up valuable time you could be using to search for others nearer you?"

"I am not in Kyoto."

"But would you not travel there to test your family, even though you could use the time better?" There was a long silence. Tsuruko put the files into a folder.

"You believe I am being childish."

"No," Ken said gently, "I believe you are being too mature. Adults always have worse fears than children do. The worst case-scenario _is not happening_, so you must stop thinking about it, and keep your mind on those things you can affect."

Tsuruko sighed. "Thank you. I just feel that I have to worry, or I may miss something. Not worrying could get people hurt."

"People are getting hurt, and will keep getting hurt. In-fighting with the senshi will only slow down the end of the war," Ken stated. "And on that note, have you told them?"

"About what?"

"The funerals." There was a long pause of silence.

"No," Tsuruko confessed, "and I do not intend to. They are still children, and they would think they had failed, even though it is not their fault. Both men gave their lives in service to their country, and to their fellow man. That the wolf youma killed them is not the senshi's fault, and would only demoralize them."

"Their fellow men? Not quite. Me," Ken said simply. "They gave their lives in an attempt to save mine, when I was not in any danger. So do not feel guilty, Tsuruko. Call your husband, speak with your sister, enjoy your youth, and live your life. I have guilt enough for both of us." Tsuruko placed a hand on his.

"I believe we just had this conversation, with our positions reversed. It is solely the fault of the Dark Kingdom."

"I _know_ that," Ken said quietly. "That does not mean I _believe_ it any more than you do."  
++++++++++++++

Nephrite teleported into the throne room, which immediately hushed. "My Queen, I bring grave news."

"You lost the Rainbow crystal and our Shadow Warrior," Beryl stated flatly.

"Not that bad," Nephrite back-pedaled, and his arm snapped out, something blurring towards Beryl's face at high speed. She jerked backwards, only just catching the object in a bubble of force inches from her nose, and opened her mouth to curse Nephrite into dust. Then her eyes saw what she had caught. _Ooh, shiny!_

"The Rainbow Crystal," she purred, and raised her eyes to Nephrite. "The mission was a success, I see."

"Partly," Nephrite demurred. "Shadow Warrior Bokushi was lost to us in spite of my personal interference, but the crystal remains in our grasp."

"Which only goes to show how weak you have become," Jadeite said spitefully, teleporting into the room. "If I had had a Shadow Warrior backing me against the senshi, I wouldn't just have the crystal to show for it. I'd have the Shadow Warrior and the senshi's heads as well!"

"Perhaps you shall get your chance, then," Beryl replied ominously. "Your next operation launches in how many days?"

"Two, my queen. The day after tomorrow."

"If you are so certain of your success, perhaps Shadow Warrior Castorand should accompany you as insurance," Nephrite suggested. Both of them looked at him. "Rather than try a silent operation, I suggest that Jadeite lure the senshi into a trap where he can drain energy and destroy our enemies with his…overwhelming power." Jadeite could not tell if Nephrite was being sarcastic or not, but Queen Beryl seemed to approve, and nodded.

"Thank you, your majesty," Jadeite said with a bow. "I will not disappoint."

"For your sake, I hope not," Beryl replied.

"But I have an addendum," he added, hoping he wasn't pushing things.

"What?" Beryl asked, annoyed that her generosity was being taken advantage of.

"Shadow Warrior Castorand has strong ties to Nephrite. Due both to the threat of sabotage and the nature of the operation, I would request that it be Shadow warrior Tethys who accompanies me."

"Nephrite knows I would not tolerate sabotage, so discard that thought from your head. What _about_ the nature of the operation?"

"For my plot I have seized a cruise ship from the docks, and drained its crew. It will depart in two days with me at the helm. When it and the passengers are several miles from land I shall drain them all of life, securing a bounty of hundreds for our Great Ruler," he said with fake humility. As the operation shall take place on the open ocean, Tethys' water magic would be vastly superior."

"You are correct," Beryl decided. "Tethys shall accompany you as you wished." Jadeite shot a smug grin at Nephrite, who smiled back calmly. "Go and begin the operation, and lure in the senshi with certainty."

"Thy will be done, my queen." Jadeite teleported away. Beryl turned to Nephrite and raised an eyebrow.

"What else do you have to say, General Nephrite? An observation about Jadeite's operation or competence?"

"That was more Zoicite's forte," Nephrite assured her. "In truth, I am glad not to risk Castorand's loss. Jadeite did just as I desired. Even if he fails, the Dark Kingdom will win, should my plan succeed. But I still have news of great import to deliver, and I apologize most profusely for being distracted." He knelt to show his penitence.

"News? What is it?"

"First, I feel I must cast a few aspirations on Jadeite's trust worthiness."

"Speak quickly."

"First Sailor Uranus is alive. I believe she would have been alive since the entire time, yet Jadeite did not mention her participation in the destruction of his tarot scheme. Second, he just stated that he drained the crew of the ship, yet he offered you no energy."

Beryl frowned. "This is circumstantial, and could be the result of forgetfulness. If you have nothing else to say, leave me."

"My queen, I have divined the fate of Shadow Warrior Glurg, I am sorry to say."

"He is dead, then?"

"No my queen, Shadow Warrior Glurg lives and is in good health."

"What! Why do you only say this now? His retrieval is paramount to our continued success! Where is he?"

"Working with the senshi my queen." The room went dead silent, and everyone simply stared at Nephrite in shock. Nephrite elaborated. "Glurg's interference with my fight against the senshi was what allowed them to force me to retreat and seal away Bokushi." Beryl kept staring at him, her brain having blown a circuit at the thought. Finally, her mind re-booted.

"A Shadow Warrior. Has. Defected. Oh crap." The fact that it was so non-serious an oath was a sign of her preoccupation. Beryl rolled the information around her mind and came up with one conclusion as to the path she could choose.

"_KUNZIIIIIIIITE! WE HAVE A SITUATION!"  
+++++++++++++_

**Mars  
****Name: **Smeocan (nicknamed Simmy)  
**Appearance:** Black eyes and black hair that later faded to dark gray, that she wore long at the sides, framing her face, but short in back. 5' 11" and 150 lbs.  
**Rank:** King Ares's daughter. (The youngest of 5)

Strict, loud, and enthusiastic, Simmy was primarily a close-combat fighter, and was known for getting into scraps and spars while off-duty. She was mildly alcoholic, but never reached a point requiring intervention. Her favorite tactic was to wreathe her body in flames using _Ember Cloak._ She also used _Flame Pillar_ when surrounded by multiple enemies, surrounding herself in a fiery flare.

One of her most notable traits was her tendency to go through bedmates as fast as sparring partners, sometimes with one person fulfilling both roles. In spite of this, near the end of her term of service, she entered into a stable relationship with a Jovian noble, whom she married. She had one child in her last two years of service, and a second (both sons) after retiring early.

In addition to fighting, she also enjoyed dancing, hiking, and painting—she was commissioned to do portraits of several royal families, and also did one of Princess Serena (Lunaris) and Prince Endymion (of Gaia) to celebrate their engagement. She openly admitted to being tune-deaf and neither played nor appreciated music, aside from as a dancing beat  
+++++++++++++++

So, was Bokushi appropriately badass?


	16. Relation Ships

Sorry. The chapter was going to be longer, but I found myself running low on time, so I decided character development was more important than the fights. Don't worry. the fighting will be next week.  
I don't own Sailor Moon.  
++++++++++++

"I'm sorry," Mamoru dejectedly whispered. The ephemeral woman in front of him smiled kindly.

"It is not the end of the world," the princess in his dreams said. "I need the crystals, yes, but I have faith in you. What the Dark Kingdom took can still be regained."

"When I get a crystal," he asked, "how will I get it to you. Will we meet in the real world? Will…?" The trailed off glumly. The foolishness of his infatuation was at the front of his mind as strong as ever. He had known the princess in his dreams ever since he was young, as long as he could remember, and she had never changed. Had never aged. She still seemed only a year or two his senior, but what about in another year or two. Would she seem a child to him in a decade. He had to know if she was real, if they would ever meet. He had to _know._

"When the time comes, I will appear before you," she said gently, and his heart swelled. "Until that time, it is enough for you to simply keep the crystals, when you gain them."

"But you are real," he pleaded, dropping to his knee "and we will meet in the real world some day, and not just in dreams." She visibly hesitated. The sight was an agony to him, a knife to his chest, and he felt dream-tears prick in his dream-eyes. "_Please_! I have to know more about you. About me. About _us_! Am I a part of the Dark Kingdom? Where do my powers come from? What are we to each other?" Her eyes softened, and she laid her hands on his shoulders. He looked up into her eyes, hoping.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, and watched a part of him shatter. They stood there for a moment, and she continued quietly, sounding sick with despair. "I am both real and false. Alive and not. I am but an aspect of a woman who has been dead for millennia, but the woman herself lives. I am a memory. Your memory of her, from when you last drew breath."

"What does that _mean_?"

She sighed. "You are not a part of the Dark Kingdom. You never have been, though Beryl wanted you badly. I pray that you never will be. In your past life, your previous incarnation, the Shittennou were your comrades. They were on your side, not you on theirs. Then Beryl turned them against you, though I know not how. You were the _betrayed_, not the betrayer."

Her voice whispered like mist and silk, and she pulled him into a hug, so that he could cry.

"And what are we?" he asked.

"In my past life I was engaged," she said quietly, and it hurt him worse than any dagger. "What we are now is for you to decide. History need not repeat itself. You owe me nothing, in truth, especially as you gave your life defending mine in the past. I am grateful for what you have done. More than I can ever express."

"So that is it, then?" He said, his voice choking off. "Then, why am I bound to Sailor Moon?"

"In the past, Sailor Moon was the head of the senshi. I knew she would need your support to reclaim her title," the princess said softly. She paused, but soldiered on. "In the past, the senshi and the Shittennou had several relationships among themselves. History need not repeat itself here, either. With Zoicite's death it cannot, for the obvious reasons. So Sailor Mercury need not worry about her past any longer."

"Was…Was Sailor Moon like that? With one of the Generals?"

"I will not answer that," the princess responded, pulling away. "It does not matter now. If you wish to pursue me, you are welcome, but I cannot guarantee that your affections will be returned. Neither will I say that I will not return them, for I might. Or not, as I choose. And as you choose."

"That doesn't make sense!" he wailed at her retreating back. She stopped but did not turn.

"Similarly, if you choose to pursue another, I will not object. Sailor Moon, or me, or a new person in the present. Whatever you desire you are free to choose, with all the risks and rewards inherent. Follow your heart." She disappeared into the mist, and Mamoru woke up.  
+++++++++++++++++

"Um…"

"What is it Ami? I don't bite," Usagi teased as they left the school building.

"I sort of have s-something planned, too," the genius confessed to her friend. Naru was going shopping with her mother, so it would have been just senshi today.

"Cram school?" Usagi asked. Her friend had been attending only every few days as senshi business took up more time and effort. "If your mom wants you to go, go ahead. There's nothing important today."

"Thanks." Ami smiled shyly and ran off to the bus stop.

"All work and no play makes Jack turn into a crazy murderer!" she heard Usagi call after her. If only she knew…

A short bus ride later Ami was standing in front of Aziraphale's Books for Bibliophiles. It was a nice little bookstore with a nice collection of children's books, and a nicer collection of—for some ineffable reason—Christian Bibles with minor misprints. She'd never been inside, but it was as convenient a meeting place as any.

"Ami!" She turned around. "How are you doing?" Ryo asked with a kind smile. Her knees went weak and she bit down on the impulse to run.

"F-fine. Thank you for asking me here." Ryo smiled and tentatively took her hand.

"Shall we go inside?" Ami didn't say anything, but she didn't pull away. She just smiled.  
+++++++++++++++

Usagi sat in the Crown, slurping down another milkshake. She was just waiting for Haruka and they could go check out the police station. It was a different college student who entered, however.

"Mamoru, hey," called Motoki. "You want the usual?"

"Yeah, thanks," he said, sitting down at the counter next to Usagi. "Actually, could you put a hold on that? I need to ask Odango a question."

"Calling me Odango is a great way to start off," she said sarcastically. "What do you want? Actually, where's Haruka? We were planning to meet here?"

"Haruka will be along in a few. She had to talk to her professor about a project she missed while in the hospital. And I'm sorry about calling you Odango." Usagi turned to him wide-eyed, and he continued on. "Is there something else you'd like me to call you, or is Uasgi okay?" he asked genuinely. She blushed when he smiled.

"I-I don't really care all thaaaat much," she confessed. "J-just Usagi is f-fine."

"Is everything okay?" Motoki asked, dropping off Mamoru's coffee. He looked from one to the other rather shrewdly. Usagi stared into her glass, and Mamoru just smiled blandly.

"I'm just asking Usagi for some help with a difficult decision," Mamoru replied.

"Why Usagi? I'd be happy to help."

"Y-yeah? Why me?"

"You know what they say," Mamoru drawled. "From the mouths of babes comes the truth unadorned."

"Hey!" the blonde yelped. "I am not a baby!" Mamoru broke out laughing, and she blushed, but didn't look away.

"I'm sorry Usagi, I was just teasing," he choked out between chuckles. "I want your help and not Motoki's because it's something I think you'd be better with."

"And what's that?"

"Girl problems," he said flippantly, and they both stared at him.

"Dude," said Motoki, "since when do you know enough girls to have girl problems?"

"Since now," Mamoru replied. "Would you mind giving me a little privacy as I pick Odango's brains? I'll tell you when I want you to know."

"No corrupting anyone," Motoki warned as he obligingly left. Usagi just looked at him awkwardly.

"Soooo, what do you need help with?" she finally asked. "If it's asking someone out, you'd probably know more than I do."

"It's more deciding who to ask out," Mamoru answered.

"You're juggling more than one girl?" Usagi asked skeptically, wriggling her nose. "I'll tell you now, that _never_ works."

"Not like that," he said with a sigh. "There are three girls I know who I might be able to start a relationship with, but there are problems with all of them."

"Everyone has problems," Usagi countered. "Normal is just a setting on the dishwasher."

Mamoru laughed. "I'll have to remember that. But basically, I want your help deciding which of them, if any, I should ask out."

"Alright," she said, intrigued. "Hit me."

"The first girl is the one I've known the longest," he explained. "I'm not using any names, but we've known each other as long as I can remember. The problem is, while we've had conversations, we haven't met face-to-face in a long time. She lives far away, and there's a large age difference between us. I also don't know whether there's anyone in her life right now, although I do know that there used to be someone else."

Usagi hmmed. "Sounds like you could have something, but only once you're a little older so you can move to where she is and get back in closer contact. Still, a childhood romance? That's…" she trailed off and squealed, "_soooo_ romantic! I wish I had someone like that. It would make things so much easier."

"Go easy on my ears, will you?" Mamoru griped. "Besides, she might already have someone."

"If it's meant to be, it'll work out," Usagi assured him. "Besides, why don't you just ask?"

"She keeps dodging the question," he explained. She frowned.

"Then maybe she doesn't want you to know. She doesn't trust you? She doesn't think you'd approve of him? She's ashamed that she's single? I dunno." She shrugged.

"So, not worth asking?"

"Asking out? Not until you can get a straight answer," Usagi decided. "Maybe take a weekend to visit her and ask in person? About her life, I mean. _Then_ you can ask her out."

"Maybe. Thank you, Odango." _I wish I could, but we meet in dreams. Still, if Usagi says pursuing her is a bad idea…she'd probably know better than me. Maybe. I hope._

"Thank you, Odango? Just for that, you're buying me a refill," Usagi said crossly, and slurped down the last bits of her chocolaty treat. To her surprise, Mamoru ordered her another one without blinking, and then continued on.

"The second girl is a co-worker," he said, once Motoki had dropped off her treat. "We work together on a part-time job, and we've known each other a few months. The problem is, on the job we only talk about the job, and we've never met off the job."

"So why don't you just start talking about something not related to work?" Usagi asked, and took a slurp of her milkshake. "Is she single?"

"I'm not sure," he hedged, "and I don't think not talking about work would go over well." Usagi looked at him, not blinking. "I'm nervous, alright? I don't know that much about her!"

"So find out," Usagi said with a shrug. "I can't really say more than that."

"Alright, fine," Mamoru sighed. "The last girl is a little tricky. We've known each other a few months and we have some mutual friends, but there's an age difference, so it might not be okay in other people's eyes."

"If you two want to be together, who cares what other people think?"

"Her parents, her friends, etc. I can't exactly ask her to give them up for me. I'm not worth it."

"If she wants you, then they'll either understand, or _they're_ not worth it." Usagi paused. "Wait, how big an age difference are we talking?"

"If she went to your school, she'd be in your grade."

Usagi wrinkled her nose, pouted, and thought about it. "You're seventeen, right? Just don't do…_stuff_ with her, and I don't think there'd be a problem." She paused, and Mamoru almost _saw _a lightbulb click on over her head. "Wait. Do I know her?" she asked, worried. _Ami's pretty smart, so that might be it. And with the exception of Umino, Naru's always had a thing for older guys._

"I can almost guarantee that you've never met, but you've possibly seen her around," he replied, not meeting her eyes. Usagi thought about this, not noticing that she had drained her milkshake. Mamoru signaled for another without prompting. She didn't react when Motoki took her old glass, still staring at Mamoru, who squirmed. "What?" Finally, she nodded.

"I was just imagining you on a date with Naru or Ami. It wouldn't be too bad, I guess. Just don't go past kissing if she does say yes, even if she asks. That would be creeptastic."

"I'll keep that in mind," Mamoru said, relieved.

"Is she single?"

"Yes," he said firmly. Usagi mulled it over her strawberry milkshake. Finally, she nodded.

"Alright, here's what I'd say you should do. The first girl is a lost cause until you can see her in person. If you can't do that in the next week, don't bother."

"I'd thought as much myself," he confessed, " but didn't want to admit it. The others?"

"Your choice," she said with a shrug, turning away. "I don't see why you couldn't get to know both of them better, on one condition." She whirled and pointed an accusatory finger in his face. "Be _honest_, and _tell them_ that you're seeing another girl just as a friend, same as you are her, and are going to decide if you want to try a relationship. If they blow up, they're not worth it. Otherwise, they'll still be your friend if things don't work out. But _don't_ try to be smarty-pants about it. Got it?"

"Got it." He sighed. "I'm just not sure that things will work out between me and the second girl. There's a lot of other stuff involved I haven't mentioned," he said weakly, and she retracted the frightening finger. Usagi turned back to her milk shake.

_Never thought I'd be giving this baka love-love advice._ Usagi found herself slightly disgruntled for a reason she couldn't quite put her finger on. It was just an unpleasant twisting in her gut, or something. The blonde took a deep drink of milkshake as a consolation.

She froze when he asked, "Would you like to see a movie sometime, or something?" It took a second for her to recompose herself and keep from spitting out (and wasting!) any of her milkshake.

"Seriously? You just asked me to help you untangle three girls, and you want to add a fourth now?" she teased, blushing slightly.

"You were girl number three," he replied, and she froze. His lips began to curl up at the edges.

"O-oh." He kept looking at her with that gentle smile and,_ Oh gawd my tummy's full of butterflies. What do I do? What do I do?_ "Um…I can't really think of anything right now, but there's that Naruto movie coming out in two weeks. Maybe that?" She couldn't meet his eyes or she'd faint like Hinata. _Stupid! He's in college! There's no way he's an anime fan!_

"Well, that sounds okay," he said, grinning like a maniac. _She's blushing! That's a good sign, right?_ "I'm just worried it seems like a long time to wait. How about I get us tickets for the movie, and we see it when it comes out, but I surprise you with something this weekend?"

"O-okay!" she squeaked.

"Hey, what's happening," Haruka asked, walking through the door with perfect timing.

"N-nothing!" Usagi squeaked again.

"Speak for yourself, Od-Usagi," Mamoru chuckled. "I have a date this weekend."

Haruka raised an eyebrow. "Really? You're joking. I'd never have guessed."

"A _hot_ date," Mamoru confirmed smugly. Usagi blushed even brighter.

"Rock on," Motoki said, passing Haruka a coffee. "So that's what you were picking Usagi's brains about. Though, speaking as a guy in a steady relationship, I'd tell you to try the Kingdom Come Cruise or something to sweep her off her feet. Who's the girl?"

"What's the Kingdom Come Cruise?" Usagi asked, not wanting the secret to come out yet. She kicked Mamoru under the table and shot him a desperate look.

"Tell me about this cruise," he asked. "It sounds promising."

"I got a bunch of flyers this morning." Motoki pointed to the stand where such things were displayed. "It's basically an overnight cruise for couples. Leaves early on Saturday, party all night, comes back late Sunday morning."

"Sounds a bit serious for a first date," Mamoru quipped a touch skeptically.

"I researched it before I put the flyers out," Motoki assured him. "Can't corrupt the kids, after all. Everything is rated for all ages except a few areas. They have childcare facilities for parents, single bedrooms, and all that stuff. There's even a quote from captain Jadeite-" _What! _shriekedeveryone in their thoughts, looking at Motoki in shock at the General's chutzpah, "about how all ages are welcome on board, etcetera, etcetera."

"Let me see one of those," Usagi said weakly, standing up.

"Grab me one too," Mamoru added. She flushed and whirled around.

"Even if it's for all ages, I still think it's inappropriate for our first date!" she snapped, not wanting him to get any ideas. Then she realized what she said, eeped, and rushed out the door while imitating a tomato.

"You're dating Usagi?" Motoki asked surprised. _I sort of saw it, but not this soon. Way to go Mamoru!_

"You're dating Koneko!" Haruka snarled. Her eyes darted between the door and the target of her ire, uncertain whether to pursue the blonde or threaten the college student. She compromised. "If you hurt her, I'll kill you," she threatened, moving toward the door.

"If I hurt her, I'll let you," Mamoru promised. Haruka nodded and rushed out after the blonde.  
++++++++++++++++

Usagi was on a bench in the park, catching her breath. She closed her eyes. _Alright. Damage control. So now everyone knows that Mamoru and I have a…a date. Crudtastic._ She rolled the possibilities of everyone's reaction around in her head. _Ami…probably wouldn't do much. Maybe a little teasing, but she's still too shy. Really, if she keeps it up she'll never get a guy_.

On the other side of the city, a blue haired girl at a café sneezed, spilling herbal mint tea on her companion. She was horrified, but Ryo waved it off good-naturedly. She hadn't got any on the books, after all.

_Naru will tease, but she'll be supportive. Heaven knows how many crushes I can blackmail her with. And three years isn't that long, really._ Usagi paused. _If his birthday is after mine it isn't even three years. I should find out. Make sure he knows mine so I get presents, too._ She grinned. _Naru will be fine. I can live with Umino's glares and pouting. But mom and dad…Daddy will pull out a sword and go bushido on his butt if he finds out._ Usagi wilted even further. _I told him not to go further than kissing, too. Crud! Well, maybe it's good if I wait until I get a growth spurt. _She cupped her chest self-consciously, realized she was in a public park, and hurriedly dropped her hands to her sides. A familiar figure walked up behind her.

"So…Mamoru?" Haruka smirked when Usagi jumped and screamed at the question.

"Don't _do_ that!" she shrieked, pointing a finger in the taller blonde's face. Haruka didn't blink, just letting her cocky grin grow even wider. Usagi found herself blushing even worse. "Did you find a crystal carrier?" she asked, straightening her shoulders in a desperate bid to change the subject.

"In class? Nope," Haruka said nonchalantly, and passed over the Moon Scepter. "You still haven't answered my question…"

"Come on!" Usagi squeaked, jumping off the bench. "Let's head over to the police statiow, ow, ow!" Haruka had grabbed one of her hair streamers to stop her. Faster than Usagi could react, the bishonen blonde spun her around, dipped her like in a dance, and plopped her back onto the bench. "The world's spinning…"

"You're not getting away that easy," Haruka drawled. "So about Mamoru. Why? How? When?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Because you're my friend and he's my friend, and there's a three-year age difference between you." Haruka paused for breath. "And because I'm still female, despite appearances to the contrary, so dish out the details already!"

"Do I _have_ to?"

"If you don't I'll tell your parents and let them get it out of you."

Usagi snorted. "Empty threat. If you said the word date near my parents, they'd assume you were the guy I was seeing. I dare you to try."

"Even if I wore a skirt?" Usagi looked skeptically at her. "You've been to my apartment enough times to snoop. You _know_ I have some girly clothes. I totally would." Usagi paled as she remembered when her and Naru had peeked Haruka's closet before a horrified Ami dragged them away. It wasn't an empty threat.

"Alright, I give. But you can't tell anyone. Not even Naru or Ami."

"Scout's honor."

"You were never a scout. That's an American thing."

"Fine, senshi honor." Usagi held a warning look for a few seconds before relenting

"I'll talk. What do you want to know?"

"How long have you been together?"

"He asked me out earlier today. Like, ten minutes ago."

"Really? How did he do it? I thought you wanted to bite his head off."

"Well, he asked me for advice first. About girls."

"Did he do the whole, 'I have a friend' thing?"

"No. He confessed he was interested in several girls and wanted my help deciding which one to ask out." Usagi trailed off. That sounded better in her head. Haruka didn't say anything. Finally Usagi turned and met Haruka's eyes. The look on her face said it all.

"I didn't know he knew more than two or three girls," she said finally. "That's counting both of us, too." Usagi shrugged.

"Well I thought Unazuki might be one, but none of the three sounded like her."

"Unazuki?"

"Motoki's little sister. She's two years older than me. She would be working at the Crown, except her grades tanked so her parents made her stop. I already checked, and she's not a crystal carrier."

"Right, right. So, three girls. And you agreed to date him anyway?"

Usagi shrugged. "One is this girl he's known forever, but she lives a long ways away and they haven't met face-to-face in a while. One is someone he works with. And one is me." _I need to change the subject._ "I'm not saying anything else. It would violin his privacy."

"I think you mean violate, Koneko."

"Why would I be talking about flowers?"

"Those are violets."

"What? Like hitting people?"

"Violence."

"Don't those play music?"

Haruka face-faulted. Usagi took the chance to drag her off toward the police station.  
++++++++++++++

"Greetings," Sakka said, bowing as the two senshi entered the warehouse.

"Nice to see you too," Usagi chirped. "Can you ask Ms. Tsuruko to come down here? We found another lead on an attack, and it looks serious." She held up the flyer for the Kingdom Come Cruise.

"I shall phone her at once. Will you require anything else?"

"We're just going to spar a bit," Haruka threatened cheerfully. "I'm gonna try beatin' some information outa Moon here." Usagi whimpered. Apparently Haruka had caught onto her dodge. _Please let Tsuruko get here soon._

Unfortunately, Tsuruko didn't arrive until they had gone through five rounds of sparring, and had started playing around with their spells. The senshi quickly stopped their attempts to explain the new threat.

"You believe that the Dark Kingdom has commandeered the entire vessel for their scheme?"

"At the very least, Jadeite is definitely in charge," Usagi stated, pointing to the picture of the general, front and center. "I've only seen him once or twice, but I'd swear it was him. We don't know how many of the crew are youma, and how many are just innocent people who've been hypnotized. But draining all the people on the boat…"

"At least two hundred people would be lost," Tsuruko agreed. "Would you like us to attempt to shut down the operation?"

"Slight problem." Everyone at the table turned to look at Sakka, who looked up from her iPad, where she had looked up the cruise ship in question. "The Kingdom Come is relatively new, but the cruise ship itself, the _Nike_, has been in service several years. In fact, this is just a stop on a month-long cruise for the ship."

"What's your point?" Haruka inquired bluntly, not getting it. Usagi didn't either, but was glad she could keep the illusion of wisdom.

"There are already over one or two-hundred people on the ship _at this very moment_. They haven't been drained yet, I assume, so the Dark Kingdom must be waiting for the main event. Could we get them off the ship faster than the Dark Kingdom could figure out what was occurring and begin draining?"

Usagi looked sick. "How can we stop them if stopping them just makes them _start_?"

"Infiltration," Tsuruko intoned quietly. "That is what you were thinking, correct, Sakka?"

"I have already taken the liberty of ordering several tickets already," she agreed. "The senshi with a few helpers for damage control will sneak on board as passengers and wreck the draining operation before it begins. In case things go south we will, of course, have people standing by to help evacuate the passengers."

"That sounds horribly risky," Usagi muttered sickly.

"It is," Sakka conceded, "but I believe it holds the highest chance of success. You have succeeded admirably thus far, and I have no reason to believe that that shall change anytime soon."

"I'm glad someone has faith in me," Usagi wanly replied. "I'm not sure I do."

"If that is true, then they have already won," Sakka said firmly, and put her hand on Usagi's chin. "Think of the countless lives you have already saved, and the enemies you have defeated. This will be nothing compared to what you have already accomplished. And if you still cannot believe in yourself, then you can believe in my belief in you." Usagi smiled.

"Right!" She got to her feet. "I'm going to take the Scepter and check City Hall for other crystal carriers. Can you guys set up everything for getting on?"

"Of course," Sakka replied. Usagi began to walk away, but paused.

"Hey, get a ticket for Tuxedo Kamen, too. I'm gonna try and contact him, okay?"

"I will do so," Sakka assured her.  
++++++++++++++++

Usagi was uncertain how to summon Tuxedo Kamen. She resolved to just sit on top of a tall building and think about him until he came. She'd expected it to be a boring hour or so, but he turned up in only five minutes.

"How may I be of service?" he inquired with a dashing bow, dropping onto the roof in front of her. Usagi's stomach did flip-flops, but the act was a little old now.

"We have information about an attack, we think. You want in?"

"I would be most delighted."

"Do you have to do that?" she asked, getting a little annoyed. If lives weren't in danger she'd be swooning over his manners, but prospective death has a habit of putting things in perspective.

"Do what?"

"Talk like that. We're not at a fancy ball or anything. Loosen up! Let down your hair! Live a little!"

Kamen wore a bemused look for a few seconds, and then began chuckling. "Sorry. I don't usually talk like this," he admitted, "but the outfit makes it happen if I don't try to avoid it. It's easier to go with the flow."

"Really? Our senshi clothes don't mess with how we talk." Usagi cocked her head and looked at him. "You know…we really don't know that much about you. Your outfit is different, your powers are different…you never answered my question, did you?" She stood up and began pacing around the building. Kamen pretended not to notice that she had taken off her tiara, and hoped he wasn't about to get attacked.

_And just when I wanted to get to know her better, too._ "Question?"

"Are you connected to the Dark Kingdom?" Kamen sucked in a breath as though punched.

"No." He realized he ought to say more. He owed her that much, especially if he wanted to build bridges instead of burn them. "The generals, you see…I was never part of the Dark Kingdom," he said firmly. "I didn't answer before, because I didn't know. I still don't know everything, but I'll tell you what I do know. You were originally in the past, right?" He cursed himself for how stupid it sounded, but Sailor Moon understood what he meant.

"The Silver Millennium." She sat down at the edge of the roof, dangling her legs off, and he walked over and sat down next to her. "We were all alive then, and then we reincarnated here when it fell."

"Yes, I was there too. I was with the generals." She shot him a look, but neither volunteered nor asked for more information, so he elaborated. "It wasn't that I was on their side so much as they were on mine. The generals weren't always evil. They used-"

"-to be on the side of good," Usagi finished. "They were guards of Earth's royalty, and nobility themselves, until they joined Beryl for some reason. Maybe they chose to, maybe they were brainwashed."

"You knew."

"Some of the senshi had…relations with some of them," Usagi said hesitantly. She hesitated because she wasn't sure what kinds of relationships, and she didn't want to say anything more if _he_ didn't already know. However, Mamoru thought she hesitated because she had been one of them, and his heart sunk a little. But there were more important things to do.

"I had heard that," he commented non-committally. "But Beryl tried to get me too, but failed. Maybe I fought it off, or maybe I just refused, but I didn't join her. That's why my powers resemble theirs more than yours."

"I'm glad you refused." Sailor Moon shot him a shy smile. "I didn't really think you were with them, because you would have pushed me off the ledge, or not saved me sometime, or something, if you were. But I had to be sure."

Mamoru grimaced He couldn't bring himself to deceive her too much. He knew the senshi were after the Rainbow Crystals too, but he needed them for his Princess. "I'm not exactly on your side, either." She looked at him wide-eyed and he hastily back-pedaled. "I want to beat the Dark Kingdom and save innocent lives as much as you do! It's just…I have other goals as well."

"Like…?" He grimaced. Sailor Moon had relaxed, but not completely. He couldn't put her on guard, but he wanted to try and soften the blow that was coming. Sooner or later he'd _have_ to take a Rainbow Crystal.

"Nothing bad," he assured her. "It should help defeat the Dark Kingdom. Just…it's something I have to do."

"Would you like help?" He looked at her, staring at him with wide, kind eyes. She really was a good person. He hoped she would forgive him when he took the Rainbow Crystals for himself. _Either way, it's out of the Dark Kingdom's hands, and it's not like the senshi would be using them. Maybe I can work something out so that we can share them._

"I can't accept help, but thank you," he said. "Listen, I've been thinking. We both want the Dark Kingdom gone. There's no real point in making this a three-way free-for-all instead of us against them. So I'd like for us to join forces more. I'll take off my mask if you take off yours." _It's not really like she'd recognize me, or hold my friends hostage._ He saw Sailor Moon bite her lip, thinking.

Usagi shook her head. _I can't risk it._ "I can't. I'm sorry."

"Why not?"

"It's not just my secret," she explained, "it's the rest of the senshi's too. If you knew who I was you could track them down, and they wouldn't like that. And besides…"

"Besides? I thought the point was that we would be all on the same side!"

"We are!" she shouted back. "I want that too. But think about it. If you know who I am, and they capture you, then they can track down all of us. And it works the other way around. If they capture me, all the senshi are in danger. But if I don't know who you are, you're safe." Air whooshed out between Tuxedo Kamen's teeth.

"You're right," he said after a second. "You're a wise, person, you know?"

She giggled. "Thanks. But you don't know me very well if you think that."

"I think I know what type of person you are, even if I don't know the details." He paused. _It's not cheating on Usagi. We haven't even gone on a date yet, and she herself advised me to get to know Sailor Moon better, even if she didn't know exactly who I was talking about. This doesn't have to be romantic!_ "I would like to get to know you better."

He saw Sailor Moon blush and look away. _Is that a good sign, or does she want to deck me?_ He tested their link experimentally. _She's happy. A little embarrassed. Ashamed? Worried?_

"I-I'd like that too, but," she refused to meet his eyes, "I sort of have a boyfriend."

_I can call him that, right?_ Usagi thought to herself. _I mean…we haven't been on any dates, but he asked me out. Okay, so there are other girls in the picture, but he asked me first! He said he chose me! Sort of… I have a sort-of boyfriend. That's close enough! I can't really go out with Tuxedo Kamen until I figure out if I'm with Mamo-chan…And I should find out if I can call him that, too. Mamoru sounds too serious._

When he heard her response, Mamoru's heart sank. He laughed, mostly friendly, and just a little bitterly. "I suppose I should have expected that." Usagi snapped out of her thoughts.

"Why?"

"It would be surprising if someone as amazing as you didn't have anyone." She blushed prettily.

"Stop it," she muttered, and shoved him lightly. His laugh this time was much more cheerful.

"To tell the truth, there's someone else in my life too," he admitted. "It didn't have to be romantic, though. If we're going to work together we still should be on friendly terms. I actually have a date this Saturday, so you could start by telling me what you do if a youma attacks when you're with him. Does he know? Do you just blurt out an excuse and run off?" She fidgeted uncomfortably.

_I probably shouldn't tell him that I haven't been on a date yet. That would really be sticking my foot in my mouth. Turning him down for a guy I haven't gone out with yet. Not the most flattering thing to find out._ "Um…the best thing I can think of is to know about youma attacks ahead of time whenever you can." A lightbulb clicked on over her head, and she blurted out, "Which is actually why I wanted to talk to you at the first place!"

"Oh yeah. You said you had information about an attack, didn't you," Mamoru mused. "Alright, hit me. Not literally!"

"Sorry," Sailor Moon teased, shaking out her hand as he rubbed his shoulder. "But you're probably going to have to cancel your date. It's Saturday." Mamoru's gut twisted.

"You don't even know what it is!" he complained. "How do you know I can't work around it?"

"There's a cruise called the Kingdom Come," she answered. He hissed as he remembered hearing about that at the Crown, but it had slipped his mind. He would have brought it up with her if she hadn't mentioned it first. "They're planning on getting a boatload of people out to sea and draining every last drop of energy." Her voice was dark with disgust. "We'll need to go onboard to stop them, so it'll probably take all day. Maybe into the night."

"Wouldn't it be smarter to stop the ship from leaving the docks? You're working with the government, right? Or won't they be cooperating?"

"They're helping, and they'll have people standing by to evacuate or attack if we need to, but there'd be too many people hurt if we sprung the trap early."

"How do you figure?"

"There's already people on board. A lot of people. Jadeite—we think this is his doing—knows he could only pull this off once, so he wants as much energy as he can get, meaning he'll wait to pick up the full boatload and get out to sea. But if we blow the trap early he'll decide to take what he can get and kill everyone on board with the drain."

"I see your point," he said, wincing at the thought. "Thanks for the heads up. Is there somewhere we should meet?" Usagi thought for a moment and rattled off the address of the warehouse they used.

"We're going to spend most of tomorrow practicing our powers and preparing a plan once we can meet up," she added. "You're welcome to come."

"I'll see you there," he promised, and departed. He'd have to check if the museum was having its Learn to Draw Manga class on Sunday too, and see if Usagi was free then.  
+++++++++++++++++

Usagi wandered the decks of the ship nervously. The Disguise Pen had boosted her a full foot in height, and knotted her hair into a bun, but otherwise she felt she looked similar to normal, and was worried about being recognized, even if she knew it wouldn't happen. Eight of them had infiltrated: Tsuruko and her husband, another unknown agent and Sakka, Ami and Haruka, herself and Tuxedo Kamen. The others had received him politely, if cautiously, and Usagi had allowed him to disguise himself. She found it funny that he chose to become a distinguished, gray-haired gentleman, and had to be repeatedly assured that that wasn't his real age.

Luna and Naru had decided to stay behind, as they would be in too much risk of being attacked, and of being exposed to others' eyes. Ken was still bedridden on hospital orders, though he complained that he was well. Tsuruko had informed her that several agents (she didn't say how many, but Usagi guessed around ten or twelve) had made it onboard, and would be on-hand in case.

In case of what didn't have to be asked.

"Lost?" asked a voice behind her, and she yelped. Whirling around, she was relieved to find herself facing a rather attractive young man in a sporty outfit, rather than a servant of the Dark Kingdom preparing to kill her.

Of he course, he could still be a servant of the Dark Kingdom who wasn't preparing to kill her _yet._

"Eh, heh, yeah," she admitted. "I was looking for one of the restaurants, but I got a little turned around."

"It's me," he said, making no sense what so ever.

"Eh?"

"It's me," he repeated with a quiet smile, and conjured a rose. Realization dawned as he handed it to her. "I didn't feel like being laughed at all evening so I changed my disguise. You like?"

"Yeah," she laughed, and slid the rose through her bun like a hairpin. "Would the gentleman be my escort to our rounded-view point?" she added pompously, extending her arm. _What the heck. My date with Mamoru isn't until tomorrow, so it's not really cheating. He's got someone too, so it would never happen._

"I believe you mean rendezvous." He took her arm and led her through the halls until they emerged on deck. "The prow, correct?"

Usagi didn't say anything. She looked out across the open expanse of water in awe. A few more steps and she was standing against the railing. The ocean looked like liquid diamonds in the bright sunlight. The crash of waves was a soothing murmur in the background, as though her parents were talking downstairs while she was in her room. Usagi closed her eyes and inhaled. The smell of the sea was rich, like the smell after rain, but the salt gave it a different flavor. The sun beat against her skin like a warm blanket, and she could almost feel her senshi powers soaking it up like a sponge. "It's beautiful," she whispered.

"What is?" Kamen asked, stepping to her side. He laid one hand over hers on the railing.

"This." She spread her arms out. "The world. Everything."

Kamen looked out at the ocean. "It is."

Usagi inhaled and turned away. "Yeah…now let's beat the Dark Kingdom and make sure it _stays_ that way." And they began walking toward the front of the boat.

Haruka had beaten them there, explaining that Mercury was scanning around and would be a few minutes. Tsuruko appeared alone. When asked where her husband and Sakka were, she said that in order to keep from being too suspicious, they would be keeping their distance while she handled the meeting. Finally Ami showed up, sporting the blue shades that disguised her visor.

"Find anything important?" Usagi asked once five of them had assembled.

"I scouted out the officers' area, but couldn't find anything without drawing suspicion," Tsuruko reported.

"There's definitely Dark Kingdom energy all throughout the ship," Ami announced, fiddling with her sunglasses. "It's dormant for the moment, but it wouldn't take much for them to activate it. It looks like the drain would be very slow, however. It would take several hours after activation before it was finished."

"So they'll probably wait for tonight before beginning," Kamen theorized. "everyone will be tired since the partying will go late into the night, so they'll write it off as sleepiness until too late."

"Where are they putting the energy?" Haruka asked. The others looked at her. "Every time before this they needed a youma or something nearby to drain the energy. So we can cut this off if we just find it and wreck it."

"Mercury?" Usagi asked. The bluenette pulled out her computer. A few minutes of fiddling later and she had a response. "I can try following the web around randomly and hope to find the center, but if we waited for the drain to begin I could follow the flow and find it easily." Usagi sighed.

"What are the odds that you'd find it?" she asked. "Just if you walked around, looking for it, without the drain."

"On a ship this large, with the time we have, and the number of off-limits areas…thirty percent," she concluded. Usagi sighed again.

"There are people waiting to help us, right?" she asked Tsuruko.

"Yes."

"And it would take several hours before anything dangerous happens, right?"

"Approximately six hours and fifteen minutes, using the average amount of time a drain takes as our base measure," Ami agreed.

"Alright," Usagi sighed (again!). "I can't believe I'm saying this, but it sounds smartest if we wait for the drain to begin and just track it once that happens." She looked around at the rest of the group and sighed, (Really! Come on! I have a whole list of vocabulary words I could use! What happened to creativity?) her head drooping. "I was really hoping one of you would tell me I was wrong and we should look no matter how hopeless it is."

"Sorry, but it does have the best odds," Ami apologized, looking vaguely guilty.

"Spending energy on a search that could be reserved for the fight is not a wise idea," Tsuruko counseled.

"I gotta agree with her," Haruka added apologetically. Usagi sighed (Nooooo! Not again! I'm serious. This is the last warning about that word!) in reluctant acceptance. _I wish Naru were here…_ Kamen put an arm on her shoulder.

"Look at it this way," he consoled her, "we have several hours to make our plan, and we have time to enjoy the cruise. Let's make the most of it."

"Alright." Usagi stood up, si-(NO! Here's a list: sobbed, snapped, snickered, snarled, signaled, submitted, etc. But NOT that _s-word_!) smiled wanly, and straightened her dress absent-mindedly. "Let's go check out the ship," she suggested. (Excellent. Good boy.)

They all filed off to explore. As they were leaving, Usagi grabbed Kamen's hand. And sighed. (Noooooooooo! You jerk.)

Usagi managed to distract herself for the next several hours, mostly by dint of window shopping and stuffing her face at the all-you-can-eat buffet. _I still wish Naru were here,_ she thought glumly to herself. _This isn't much fun without her. Still…I'm glad she's safe at home, but I wish she were here. It's not the same._

"Think it will be soon?" she asked Ami, who was next to her at the table.

"Perhaps. The night is still young, though."

"Attention all passengers," crackled the intercom. Every ear turned to listen. "This is your captain speaking. Due to a slight accident, the Crystal Ballroom will be closed for renovations and repairs for the foreseeable future. We humbly apologize for the inconvenience, but don't be worried. We still have several smaller ballrooms open for business. In particular, a dancing class will be held in the Orange Ballroom at eight tonight, and again at ten in the morning tomorrow. Wishing you all a fun-filled evening, this is Captain Jadeite. Over and out."

The murmur of conversation returned to its previous level.

"Dancing lessons! Those sound fun," Usagi chirped. "Still, if Jadeite recommends them, maybe I should skip out."

"It's a trap," Ami said quietly.

"Huh?"

"It's a trap, Moon. That announcement was a trap."

"What do you mean?"

"The _Crystal_ Ballroom is closed for repairs? Doesn't that ring any alarms?"

"Not really," Usagi said shaking her head. Ami wilted.

"Oh. Maybe I am over-thinking things," she muttered.

"No, tell me," Usagi pleaded. "What if you're right?"

Ami nodded. "Jadeite presumably knows we're onboard," she began, and Usagi began looking around frantically.

"He _does_?" she hissed, panicking. "We're wide open. What if he sends a youma after us! There are so many people who could be hurt!"

"Calm down," Ami ordered quietly. "He thinks we're on board, but he doesn't know who or where we are. He does, however, know that crystals have been showing up on both sides of this fight. He announced that the Crystal Ballroom was closed in the hopes that we would think it was the center of the draining. We would go there, and he would dump youma on us, or spring a trap, while the real draining agent would be safe elsewhere."

"That's…that's…" Usagi was at a loss for words to express her opinion. "That's _evil_," she finally decided on. Ami looked across the room at the various tables.

"You should probably signal the others not to go after the lead," she suggested. Usagi looked and saw her fellows at the other tables looking undecided about what to do. She quickly shook her head. In spite of this, Tsuruko stood up and walked over to her, while her husband and the other agent moved toward the door.

"Don't! It's a trap," Usagi hissed when Tsuruko was close enough.

"It probably is," was the reply, "but we're going to check it out just in case. We have to be certain."

"Then I'm coming with you," Usagi replied, but Tsuruko pushed her back down.

"I can't order you around, nor you me," the swordswoman began, "but it's too dangerous for you to go if it is a trap. We will be careful, and he'll think we are normal humans, so we should be safer. If it is a trap, we'll be less likely to spring it. If we do, then you can come to our rescue, since you'd be going there regardless. And if it is a genuine closing due to repairs that was to help the masquerade, then nothing will happen and we will return," Tsuruko assured her.

Usagi slumped back into her seat. "Fine. But don't get hurt, okay?"

"I will do my best," Tsuruko gently assured her, and left the room.

It wasn't five minutes later that the Mercury Computer began to beep.

Everyone quickly assembled in the hallway. "Where do we go?" Usagi hissed impatiently as Ami tapped out a pattern on the Mercury computer, which she had plugged into a wire she had ripped out of a lamp.

"He's using the electric wiring and plumbing as conduits for the energy."

"And?"

"Alright, I've hacked into the energy flow. Tracking it…and the central draining area is…is…fuck."

"_What is it_?" Usagi yelled, ready to tear her hair out. True, they were supposed to have hours to do this, but did the Dark Kingdom know that?

"There's more than one draining area," Ami explained, clicking the Mercury Computer, and disconnecting it. "There's two."

"Where?" Usagi was ready to tear her hair out, Haruka's teeth were clenched, and Tuxedo Kamen's face was blank. Only Sakka looked calm, but when she tried to lay a hand on Usagi's shoulder, the blonde shrugged it off.

"There's one in the Crystal Ballroom, and one in the swimming pool on the top deck. Both are about the same size."

"We need to split up," Usagi groaned.

"Divide and conquer," Sakka noted clinically, hoisting a bulky pack over her shoulder. "Would it be possible to attack one of them with all of us, and then move onto the next one?" Usagi bit her lip.

"Maybe…but what if they take the energy from the second and run?" Sakka simply shrugged.

" What if they overpower us at one of the sites? You are the leader Sailor Moon. It is your decision." Usagi groaned, fidgeting. She made a choice.

"I don't want to risk it. We'll split up. Merc, Uranus, you go to the ballroom and help out the others. Kamen and I will go to the pool."

"And I?" Sakka asked.

"Can you fight?" a nod was her answer. "Go wherever you feel is best."

"With you," she told the blonde.

"Okay. Split!" They ran off in different directions.  
+++++++++++++

**Moon  
****Name:** Forta  
**Appearance:** Naturally blonde, but she habitually died her hair many colors, from black, to white, through blue, orange, yellow, and red. Gray eyes. 5' 2" and 120 lbs.  
**Rank:** Paternal cousin to Queen Serenity, niece of King Argent

Despite her small size, she earned her title as Commander of the senshi. Her magic was overwhelmingly powerful, and she was blindingly fast in physical combat. Off-duty, she was rather air-headed—a dreamer, a poet, and a philosopher. She used a unique weapon, a double-bladed sword-staff, partly because many of her spells were too indiscriminate for her tastes.

Aside from her weapon, her most commonly used spell was _Eclipse Flash,_ which was a non-offensive spell used to blind her enemies. She was married to Sailor Saturn's (Melody) brother. Both of them died in an assassination when they had dinner with two unknown parties and partook of poisoned wine. The culprit was never found.


	17. Win the Battle

I'm sorry that this chapter is so late, but I have some bad news. Real life is kicking my butt, so this story will have to go on hiatus until July. After that, though, I will return! And I've left you a pretty good twist to chew over.  
+++++++++++++

Mercury and Uranus ran like the demons of hell were behind them. Ironic, since the demons were where they were running to, not away from. There may be a moral about the nature of a hero there, but if so you should make it up for yourself.

The blonde slammed through the doors while Mercury paused to survey the battlefield. It wasn't good. There were three youma, two green and one red, and only Tsuruko was still standing.

"Mercury Spray Shroud!" The fog covered the room as Haruka hurtled toward one green youma, with purple splotches across its skin. Mercury immediately moved to help Tsuruko and pull the two downed fighters out of the line of fire. "Are you alright?" She asked the older woman.

"Yes. Listen," she whispered urgently. "The green and purple one can bend and stretch like rubber, the green and yellow one is a close-combat fighter with spikes, and the red one is similar to a living pile of mud that can reconstitute itself."

"Understood," the senshi said, and immediately began formulating a plan.  
+++++++++++++++

Moon, Kamen, and Sakka raced through the halls and up stairwells. The pool on the top deck was on the top deck, making it the highest part of the ship except for the control room. They burst through the door, past the sign declaring that the top deck closed at sunset, and into enemy territory.

"Welcome, Sailor Moon," said the woman—the youma lounging on the pool. Literally, on the pool, lying on the water like a cushion. "I have been waiting." She had blue skin, red hair, and no apparent mouth. The bottom of the pool was alight with green fire as it slowly collected more and more life-energy.

"You have targeted innocent people and disrupted a night of peace and fun. Surrender now, or in the name of the Moon, I will punish you!"

"Yeah…not happening." With a flick of her wrist the youma sent a spout of water at Moon's head. The senshi yelped and rolled out of the way

"Moon Tiara Magic!" The glowing disc cut through the wall of water put up around the youma with ease, the youma dissolved into water the moment the tiara got too close. "Um…did I win?"

"Of course not," said the youma from behind her, as water rushed around Moon and trapped her in a bubble. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Shadow Warrior Tethys, your executioner." She placed one hand on the bubble to maintain it as Moon franticly clawed at the edges, trying to escape. _Hurry up and drown, senshi. You can't call out your spells under water._

Kamen rushed out of the shadows, shouting for her, but he had to dodge around both the youma's water blasts and the deck chairs strewed around the area. _I'm not going to make it in time!_ Panicking, he threw two roses at Tethys, which she swatted out of the air with her free arm.

_I'm going to drown! I'm going to drown!_ Moon panicked. _I can't die yet! I never got to fall in love, or get married, or become a manga writer, or visit Kyoto, or teleport to the Moon and explore. Wait a minute…_ She paused, examining her own body and how she felt. Tentatively, she inhaled just a little through her nose, and found air, not water. _Ami said we could survive in space or underwater! I'm not drowning,_ she rejoiced, and then her smile became slightly manic.

Tuxedo Kamen noted the changes and saw her mouth something. _A spell? Isn't she drowning?_ Her tiara lit up and Tethys looked back down at her.

"What are you-"

_Now!_

Moon lashed out, driving her tiara towards the Shadow Warrior's hand, and through it. The bubble burst, and Moon hit the floor and bounced up as the youma flinched back, driving her tiara towards the exposed stomach.

"Hey!" Tethys had again collapsed into water and reappeared on the other side of the pool.

"Are you alright?" Kamen asked the soaked senshi as he slipped beside her.

"Never better. My protections keep me from drowning," she announced proudly.

"Good to know," Tethys called in her echoing voice, "Now I'll just crush you with pressure or shred you with currents instead." Moon flinched at the graphic description.

"I shouldn't have said that, huh."

"No," Kamen told her honestly, "but I'll protect you."

"Protect her from this!" At Tethys's words, the water in the pool roiled, rose up, and morphed. The heads and necks of five large, liquid dragons glared down at them. "Drown in despair and be crushed beneath my-"

*CRACK*

The youma's head jerked back in time with a loud crack from behind them, and a series of the sounds repeated as the Shadow Warrior stumbled backwards, black dots appearing on her body. Moon whirled around to see Sakka standing in the doorway, reloading a rifle.

"That won't keep her down," the markswoman warned, and Moon spun back around to see Tethys already standing up again. At least the dragons had collapsed, though.

"Moon Tiara Magic!" The discus spun across the pool and Tethys dissolved back into water immediately before it clipped her shoulder. She sprang up behind the senshi, only to burst back into water when Kamen smashed his cane across her head. He threw a volley of roses at random areas of the deck, but none were near where Tethys reappeared.

"I have a plan," he whispered, and Moon cocked her head and listened.  
+++++++++++++++++

"Uranus Space Shock!"

Uranus swore as the rubber youma's legs stretched to ridiculous proportions, allowing it to easily avoid her spell.

"Idiot human," it taunted. She attempted to sweep kick its leg, only for the limb to bend around her attack like soft clay. Then it snapped back, violently, and she was sent stumbling backwards.

The other green youma, with thorn-like spikes on its arms, instead attempted to jump on her. Since she was already stumbling backwards, instead of trying to catch herself, Uranus fell into a backwards somersault. The youma landed two feet in front of her instead of on her, and she casually swung a kick into its chin, stepped into its guard, and punched it in the chest.

The youma buckled around her fist, letting out what sounded like a wheeze, and Uranus blitzed a series of vicious punches into its torso, feeling things in its body break against her fists. A kick to the knee dropped it to the floor, and she booted it into the slow-moving pile of sludge that was the red youma. She turned around to see the rubber youma coiling its legs like springs, and it leapt at her. She slipped into a more solid stance and drove both fists into it, sending it flying back through the air.

"Aqua Bubble Burst!" Mercury called idly, still scanning, and a layer of ice coated the red youma, but the thorny one had dodged. It charged towards her, only for Uranus to tackle it from behind. It recovered and brought up its fists threateningly.

"Feassst upon yourrr blooood," the thorny youma threatened. She grabbed its wrists, pulled its arms apart, and drove a heel into the youma's center of mass. It doubled over.

"Uranus Space Shock." She cast at point-blank range, and the thorny youma went flying backwards, only for two stretchy arms to snake out and clutch at the senshi's arms. The arms pulled back in and she went flying towards the rubber youma, who was baring its needle-like teeth.

Uranus grabbed the arms that had grabbed her, twisted in mid-air, and kicked its throat. She then threw the rubber youma into the air and sent it flying across the room with a snap kick, only to immediately pull back when the thorny youma charged.

"Behind you! Aqua Bubble Burst!" Uranus immediately reversed course, sliding forward under the youma's legs, and tripping it, as the malevolent pile of sludge that had snuck up behind her gained a sheet of ice over part of its composition.

"Could you hurry up with that scanning? I need to know where to hit them," she called to Mercury. The thorny youma pulled its head from the pile of sludge. Haruka shifted her stance to keep one eye on the rubber youma.

"I'm getting there! I think something in this room is interfering with my observations! Can you hold out?"

Haruka turned back to the youma and kicked a rubbery fist hard enough that it bounced back and hit its owner in the face. Then she pivoted and swept out the thorny youma's legs mid-charge, and kicking it across the room.

"Yeah, no problem! This is just a warm-up."  
++++++++++++++

"Moon Tiara Magic!" The disk hummed towards Tethys, only to miss as the Shadow Warrior dissolved again. A trio of roses thunked into the location her feet had been. The pool roiled and a drill of water rose up, churning towards Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen. He grabbed her waist pulled them both to safety, tossing three pinkish-white flowers into the roiling liquid.

_Those didn't look like roses,_ Moon noted with a smile. The plan was going well.

Tethys rose up and sent ribbons of water at the duo, only to duck as the tiara almost caught her on the return trip. Then the Shadow Warrior staggered when a staccato of sharp cracks filled the night, as Sakka emptied several bullets into her from…somewhere. The only normal human had concealed herself well.

"Where is that mortal hiding?" snarled an annoyed Tethys. Those little lumps of lead hurt, even if they didn't do much else. Then a rose plunged into her chest, which hurt a lot more. Three more targeted her feet, and she jumped, calling up a pillar of water to land on. "You are annoyances, nothing more," she taunted Kamen and Moon, calling up a wave of water to swamp them.

"Now, Sailor Moon!" Kamen called and leaped off to the side. Moon, however, charged straight toward the wall of water, and as she was about to be swamped, jumped. The senshi cleared the wave by three feet, and came plummeting down toward Tethys, who dissolved to dodge. Sailor Moon hit the center of the pool with a splash, becoming completely submerged, and screamed underwater.

"Wwhahaattt isssissis thihissis," Tethys snarled, as she was forcibly reconstituted at the edge of the pool. It hurt like nothing she had ever felt before, including injuries from matches with the generals. Her teeth, her skin, her very bones were rattling with the force of the mysterious attack. "Ssoosssoso nunnummumb."

"Of course," Kamen deadpanned, throwing a white rose that buried itself in her neck. "Water conducts vibrations much better than air, so it figures that Sailor Moon's sonic attack would harm you when you were dissolved." Tethys couldn't hear him, and barely reacted to the rose entering her body. The vibrations, filled with Moon's magic, were echoing through her form. She was numb, as though her entire body was asleep, and could barely move.

"Yoouyyouuyou," the Shadow Warrior began, but couldn't finish. The white rose Kamen had thrown began to glow, and with a frown of concentration, he snapped his fingers. It detonated into a burst of light and force and blasted off a chunk of Tethys's chest and neck, and most of her head. Tethys fell back into the pool as Sailor Moon climbed out the far side and onto the deck.

"It worked," she called, shaking off extra water, and beginning a happy dance. "Woo-hoo! I can't believe we won…so…" The senshi of the moon slowed to a stop, frowning at the surface of the water. "I think I just jinxed us. Bokushi was way harder to take down then this."

"Bokushi was thousands of years old," Kamen replied, eyeing the water uncertainly. The bale-fire of the draining pattern mixed with the darkness of the night to make it almost impossible to see clearly. "Sailor Mercury said that according to Glurg, older Shadow Warriors are more powerful and skilled, correct? So this one was younger than Bokushi, is all."

"Bokushi was that strong after being sealed away for thousands of years, while Tethys is fresh," Moon argued, falling into a defensive stance.

"Then shouldn't you destroy the draining pattern while Tethys is regenerating?" he pointed out. Moon blinked and face-palmed.

"You're right. Moon Tiara Magic!" The disc approached the nearest cluster of symbols, only for a watery spike to explode from the surface of the pool. It struck the Tiara dead center, dispelling its nimbus of energy. The adornment hung limply from the spike before falling into the water.

With an ominous susurrus, the pool bunched up in the middle and rose. Two red lights, Tethys's glowing eyes appeared in the center of it. Two cracks sounded through the night, but a cushion of water stopped the bullets in their tracks. The Shadow Warrior eyed the slugs and let them clatter to the floor with an ominous chuckle.

"Now then." She spoke with the roar of crashing waves. "Let's try this again."

"I hate it when I'm right," the blonde grumbled.  
++++++++++++++

Uranus grabbed the vine-like arm of the youma, only for it to stretch as she attempted to pull it into a judo throw.

"Come on! At least rubber bands break," she grumbled, and grinned as the other green youma charged her, while the rubber one in her grip pulled back its free arm. She let the captured arm snap back, shifted her stance, and caught the thorn-like spikes of the charging youma, judo throwing it into the stretchy youma. "Uranus Space Shock," she called, firing the orange blast into the pile-up. "Got any tips for me, blue?"

Mercury frowned as she surveyed the scene through her visor. "Better to play safe than sorry with those thorns, Uranus. They'll drain energy if they pierce you, but not through regular contact. Also, try targeting the other youma's center of mass. It can only stretch its limbs."

"Can do!" Uranus returned to the two youma while Mercury focused on the red one remaining. It was very slow, but very difficult to seriously hurt. Even dousing it with her ice didn't slow it down much more than it already was.

_Great, they've discovered tactics,_ Uranus thought. The rubber youma shot its arms off to the sides in an attempt to hem her in while the thorny one charged straight down the middle. She grabbed the thorns mid-charge, broke its guard, slammed her knee into the youma's solar plexus, and grabbed one of the rubber arms in her spare moment. "Gale Shredder."

The rubber youma shrieked as its arm was cut off, and as it recoiled she swept the thorny youma's feet out from under it, smashed a heel into what was presumably its spine, and bent down, looping the severed arm around the thorny arms as restraints. Her heel idly swung up and knocked aside the extending fist that had been sent at her back. She immediately swung back around, driving her heel down into the thorny youma as it struggled, and grabbed the other arm. Her free hand dragged the thorny youma to its feet, and she quickly looped the arm around its neck.

"Nowhere to run now," she drawled. "Uranus Space Shock! Gale Shredder!" The first spell was sent down the arm at the rubber youma, blasting it against the wall, and the second carved a gash against the thorny youma's bound arm.

"Gale Shredder! Gale Shredder! _Gale Shredder_!" Uranus grinned and kicked the severed arm across the room, only for an extending fist to smash her into the wall.

"I have it!" Mercury cried triumphantly, and was instantly at Uranus's side, helping her up. "I'll target the thorny one first. It's somewhat plant-based and sensitive to cold. Can you keep the other two off my back? The red one can reconstitute itself, but is highly lacking in speed and agility. The stretchy one is vulnerable to cutting and at its torso, which can't stretch."

"I'll try," Uranus groaned. She got back to her feet and took a stance. "Uranus Space Shock!" The bolt splattered a few pieces of the red youma across the room. Then she turned to look at the rubber youma, which…"Mercury?"

"Yes?" she asked, paying more attention to her own circling with the thorny youma.

"Is it just me, or has the rubber guy not only healed, but grown two new arms?" Mercury glanced at the youma in question, which was glowing with gather motes of energy, and swore quietly.

"They're using the life energy they've gathered to rejuvenate and grow," she explained. "Aqua Bubble Burst!" she cast at the thorny youma when it reacted to her distraction, attempting to charge, and she promptly followed up with an attempt to smash its frozen arms.

Her kick hit cleanly, and the limbs shattered. But it wasn't enough to overcome the enhanced healing factor. Even as the shards of ice were hitting the floor, motes of green energy had gathered around the stumps, and replacements were growing in, with even nastier thorns.

"Why can't I have a decent attack?" Mercury complained, and jumped back into the fray.  
++++++++++++++++

Moon and Kamen dodged the blast of water by a hair, droplets splattering them from the near miss. Moon kept rolling, avoiding a follow-up attack, while Kamen threw pinkish flowers at the Shadow Warrior, only for them to sink hopelessly into the water. A glowing disc burst out of the mass as Moon recalled her tiara, but even that opening failed to give Tuxedo Kamen a good target, and the white and pink petals sank out of sight.

"Your roses won't work against me," Tethys taunted, tentacles of pool water throwing deck chairs every which way. On the plus side, this made it easier for them to dodge the youma's attacks. On the down side, they had to avoid flying furniture as well.

_Wrong flower,_ Sailor Moon thought to herself as she saw what Kamen was throwing. She smiled and resisted the urge to imitate Gendo Ikari's classic pose. _All according to plan._ Whoever Tuxedo Kamen was under the mask, he was highly intelligent, his having taken into account that Tethys might not go down as easily as he hoped with two possible backup plans. _We're not done yet!_

"Moon Tiara Magic!" Sailor Moon called from a corner of the pool, and the glowing disk traveled across the darkness and severed two tentacles reaching for Kamen. "Your enemy is me!" she shouted.

"Is that so?" Tethys hissed.

"Yes! Parties are fun times, for happiness and relaxation! They are a place for innocent people to be with friends and gather together, enjoying the company one another brings! Youma, you have defiled that sacred joy in the name of greed, anger, darkness, and hate. Repent now, for I am Sailor Moon, and in the name of the moon, I shall punish you!"

"Was that stupid speech supposed to intimidate me?" Tethys burbled through the protective layer of water.

"No, it was supposed to buy time," Moon answered proudly, as she saw Kamen shroud himself in a golden cloak of magic.

"_Grow,"_ Tuxedo Kamen's quiet voice commanded, gold sparks soaring away from his body like fireflies, and homing in on the flowers scattered around. All the flowers, both on the deck, and sunken in the water.

"What is _this_?" Tethys shrieked, as thirsty roots began to spread throughout her liquid armor. Roots that came not from roses, but from the lilies he had tossed at her before. Lillis that grew lily pads and roots, twining together to form an intricate underwater net, and anchoring themselves to the floor of the pool.

"_This_ is a trap," Kamen said smugly, as green wound its way over and around the youma. "My roses are arrows that strike straight at the heart of your villainy, foul demon. But with the roses ineffective, I needed a different weapon. These lilies are chains of righteousness, stronger than steel, and they will bind you from now until the end of your life. Not that that will be a long time, though."

"Enough with the speeches. Moon Tiara Magic," Sailor Moon added. Tethys screamed a single, incomprehensible word, and thin streamers of water tore themselves from the pool and flew at the two heroes. The streams were the most she could control with the lillies' magic in the water, but they were razor sharp.

Moon nonchalantly took a half-step to the side while Kamen simply angled his body, and the jets flew past harmlessly. The last look on Tethys's face before the green swallowed her was one of sheer disbelief.

"Aren't you going to throw that?" Kamen asked Moon, eyeing the glowing tiara. She shook her head.

"Not powerful enough if she's really a Shadow Warrior, and I think she is," Moon replied. She grit her teeth and ran the tiara down her arm, drawing blood, and waved off Kamen's immediate attempt to heal her.

"That strikes me as a little sick," Kamen said, watching her actions. "Self-mutilation isn't healthy."

"It's about the pain and the blood," Moon answered, and ran the tiara down the side of her leg, lightly. "I'm not sure why, but it makes me more powerful. Maybe it's a," she hissed and whimpered, and Kamen grabbed her unharmed arm and steadied her. "Thanks. I think it's a safeguard or something."

"It still upsets and disgusts me," he replied. "Can you stand?"

"I wouldn't mind the help," Moon hissed, fighting down a blush. She grabbed onto Kamen's waist, carefully trying not to get blood on him, and he steadied her shoulder. "I think I cut a little too deep. Can you heal me after this?"

"Of course." The crimson liquid drizzled down onto the deck, mingling with the pool water and dying it red. The senshi aimed her bleeding arm at the large lump in the green (from all the plants) pool.

"Mirror. Light. Escalation!" There was a flash of pink as the tide of power surged out and across the surface of the water. It cut a swath through the lilies, struck the imprisoned youma dead-center, and continued on, tearing across the pool, the deck on the far side, and finally blasting through the railing and continuing on into the night sky.

"I think it's dead," Kamen said admiringly.  
++++++++++++++++

Uranus had just finished splattering the red blob across the room and was in the process of tying up the rubber youma with its own arms when the hairs on the back of her neck stood straight up. Something cold and wet wrapped around her ankle and she kicked out and rolled away reflexively. Facing the new threat, she couldn't quite believe her eyes.

"I'm not sure whether I'm more horrified, disgusted, or annoyed," she grumbled. _It looks a little like a backwards squid_, she thought. Actually, a better description would be to say that it looked like a thick, short snake with a mass of tentacles for a mouth. And it was made of red muck.

"Mercury Spray Shroud! Uranus, the red youma is capable of reconstituting and controlling individual parts," Mercury called. Through the mist, Uranus could see its slug-like head scrabbling around on crab legs, and at least two other snakes.

"I know! I see three snake, uh…snakey, squid, wriggly thingies and the head! You?" Uranus glanced back through the mist to see her younger partner toss a blast of water at the thorny youma while another of the mobile limbs—which is what she guessed the snake-squids were—tried to grab her legs.

"I've got one more over here," she called, jumping, "but I think I can handle it. Focus on your youma!"

"Can do," Uranus affirmed. "Uranus Space Shock!" She spattered one of the snakes in half, but the two parts put themselves back together. _Huh. I was worried I'd get two snakes instead of one._ "Hey! I think it can only control these pieces. Make more and they just go back together!"

"Aqua Bubble Burst! Yes," Mercury said, squinting through her visor, "that appears correct. The youma can only control this many parts. If you break it into more parts it will have difficulty putting itself back togeth-oof!" An extendable fist had come out of the fog and punched her across the room. She hit the wall near the entrance with a thud, and Tsuruko hurried back into the room and tried to help her up as the mist began fading.

Uranus hit the rubber youma like a cannonball. Tackling it, a point-blank "Gale Shredder" severed its two left arms before she pinned it against the wall. Two punches audibly broke a few ribs before she hopped back a step, not caring that she stepped in something squishy, and shattered its knee with her heel.

It extended its neck, a new trick, and tried to bite her throat out, but the blonde stopped it with a skull-rattling uppercut. Then she threw her full weight into a punch aimed at the youma's sternum. Her fist punched a hole not only through the youma's chest, but also the wall behind it. The senshi yanked out her green gore covered right arm and drove her other arm higher into its chest. With a crack, its ribcage audibly broke and collapsed, and the youma slumped to the floor.

"Stay dead," she growled at it. Then she realized that the squishy thing she had stepped in was a piece of the red youma, and it was wrapping itself around her legs while the other pieces got closer and closer. "Aw, man. They just won't stop. Uranus Space Shock!"

"No, run," Mercury wheezed at the swordswoman kneeling beside her. With an earsplitting *crack* the shell of ice around the thorny youma fell to the floor. A green nimbus surrounded it as it grew more and longer weapons on its arms, head, and back. Then it turned to the two of them, both vulnerable. Tsuruko, in spite of a badly bleeding arm and—according to her visor—a concussion, took a stance in front of it. "You'll die," Mercury gasped, still unable to stand yet.

"I'll protect you," Tsuruko responded gravely, staring down the youma. It threw itself at them with wild abandon, and Mercury felt a sick horror when she realized that the brave woman was about to die. It churned in her gut and swelled violently with each step the youma charged. She threw out her arm helplessly, thinking only- _Let me save her!-_ and it erupted through her with an icy surge.

"Rime Guard!" A flat plane of ice, a shield, materialized in front of Tsuruko and the youma charged straight into it. The shield cracked slightly, and the thing let out an unholy shriek as it stumbled back with frost forming on its face and body. Tsuruko stepped around the shield and slashed the youma. It didn't do much, but it would take time to heal the gash, and it stumbled back a few more steps. Tsuruko used the chance to help Mercury to her feet.

"A new spell?" she asked. The bluenette nodded.

"I was unaware of that ability until now," she admitted. "Mercury Spray Shroud!" Fog once again descended upon the room.  
++++++++++++++++

"I hope it's dead," Moon agreed. Then she screamed and ducked as Kamen violently swung his cane at her head. There was a clang, and she stumbled away to see him locking blades (well, cane and blade) with Jadeite. The General wore a nasty scowl and was wielding a long, thin rapier. His face darkened further and he swung again, only for Kamen to parry him perfectly.

_Cool…_she thought.

"You may have beaten Tethys, but that just means I'll have to kill you myself," the General snarled. Moon watched with wide eyes as Kamen and Jadeite dueled back and forth across the deck. It was like a swordfight from a movie, only in real life and right in front of her. She could almost imagine Tuxedo Kamen as the dashing gentleman, fighting to thwart the plans of the evil army officer and save his beloved bride. Both men were skilled, and only got in the occasional hit, but Kamen was the only one bleeding, due to the blunt nature of his 'sword'. Then several *cracks* split the air, as Sakka's bullets bounced off a flickering blue shield around Jadeite.

"A little help would be appreciated," Kamen called to Moon, and she snapped back to her senses and blushed.

"Oops!" Her mouth opened to chant 'Mirror,' but she realized she risked hitting Kamen. Instead, she called, "Moon Tiara Magic!" The disc flew towards Jadeite's knees and he jumped back farther than she'd have guessed he could, landing in the middle of the pool and standing calmly on the water.

"You'll need more than that to defeat me," he called mockingly. Moon winced at the fire in her arm and leg. Moving wouldn't be easy for her until she started healing.

"If you can make him stay still I can hit him with an Escalation," she whispered to Kamen. He shook his head.

"Actually, if you can buy time, I have a trick of my own," he muttered back. "The backup plan should work against him just as well. Just give me a chance to build up power," he asked, and she saw golden sparks begin to gather around him.

"Okay. Moon Tiara Magic!" The spell flew straight towards Jadeite, who held up a single hand. A blue shield flashed into being and her tiara bounced off and dropped into the pool. He smirked at Moon, whose jaw had hit the floor.

"_How_ did he _do_ that?" she shrieked.

"Behold the power of the Dark Kingdom, scum," was Jadeite's reply.

"Spells don't work and I can't get close to him! How am I supposed to fight?" Several bullets bounced off the same shield and Jadeite sent a return burst of dark energy vaguely in their direction, but couldn't find the sniper to target her.

"The lily pads should support your weight," Kamen grunted. "Just jump back when I yell, okay?" Moon eyed the floating patches of green, ran through possibilities in her head, and nodded briskly. With a yell—more pain than anger—she jumped onto a pad, bounced onto a second and leaped at Jadeite.

"Are you an idiot?" he drawled, raising his sword. It quickly became apparent, however, that she had overshot and would land well behind Jadeite after passing several feet over his head. He didn't even bother to move, and she grinned gleefully when she passed overhead.

"Moon Tiara Magic!" The enchanted disk erupted out of the pool at his feet, and only a quick parry with his rapier saved his leg. He still was left with a nasty gash on his calf, and had to hastily throw up a shield when the tiara was thrown at him again. "HIIYYAAAH!" Moon screamed, the sound waves kicking up audible ripples as Jadeite staggered and sank knee-deep into the water, a red cloud spreading into the pool around him.

"B-bitch," he snarled, regaining his footing. Moon opened her mouth to attack again, but paused. She cocked her head, listening, and frowned.

"Kamen, trouble!" she called.

"Jump, Sailor Moon!" he yelled back, gold sparks surrounding him like a swarm of fireflies. Jadeite whirled around as Moon leapfrogged back to Kamen's side, and saw the swarm of sparks vanish.

"Whatever you're planning, I don't think it worked," he drawled, moving into a guard position.

"Oh?" Kamen snapped his fingers.

Every flower exploded. To be clear, _every flower_ on the deck and in the pool, from the dozens of lilies grown in the water to the various roses thrown on the deck after missing Tethys, all detonated into a burst of gold-edged white light. Cracks ravaged the deck's surface as roses vaporized entire chunks of it, creating foot-wide craters of slag and molten plastic, and three quarters of the pool instantly boiled as a pillar of light momentarily arced high into the sky.

In another second the light-show was extinguished, leaving Moon to try and blink away the fireworks clouding her vision. Not only was the damage devastating, but the explosion had also wiped out the array used to gather energy.

"Is he dead?" Sakka called from the roof of the stairwell they had entered through.

"Awesome," Moon murmured, rubbing at her eyes through the mask. Then she squealed. "That's another general down! We…I think I just jinxed us again." Kamen was about to comment on her mood swings—how she could go from celebratory to glum so instantly—except that he saw a figure hip-deep in the pool through the vanishing pillar of steam.

"It takes *huff* more than that *wheeze* to kill *gasp* me." Jadeite was badly scorched and hunched over, but appeared to be mostly intact. He raised a trembling hand at them, only for something to catch his attention, and he turned around. Cracks split the air again, but a wall of water rose up around the General, stopping the bullets. Sailor Moon face-palmed as the figure came into view.

"Oh yeah, I was going to warn you about that. I heard her come back right before you blew him up."

"Leave these fools to me, my lord," Tethys told Jadeite, dragging a writhing mass of seawater behind her as she floated back onto the deck. She was still missing most of one arm and one foot at the ankle, but both were visibly regenerating. The same was true for the right side of her face, which looked melted, and was obviously missing pieces. There was a pause, and Jadeite smiled.

"I entrust this operation to you, Shadow Warrior," he said with a nod, saluting her with his sword. Then, in a quieter voice he added, "Don't get killed, Tethys." She walked over to him and, to Moon and Kamen's surprise, pressed her mouthless face against his lips. Jadeite was visibly surprised, but did not pull away. They stayed like that for a moment, looking rather intimate, and then Jadeite stepped backwards and teleported away silently. The Shadow Warrior turned to face them.

"And now you die," Tethys intoned, and a flood raced towards the heroes.  
+++++++++++++++

"They just won't stay down," Uranus complained, back-to-back-to-back with Mercury and Tsuruko. The thorny youma and all five parts of the red-slime youma surrounded them. In the corner she saw a cloud of energy surrounding the rubber youma, and guessed it would be up in a few minutes in spite of the supposedly fatal damage she had dealt it.

"The youma have automatically tapped into the gathered life-energy and are using it to regenerate," Mercury explained. "If we want them to stay down, we need to stop them from gathering energy so we can deplete their stores."

"And how do we do that?"

"We have to find the receptacle they are using to channel and store the energy and destroy it. Rime Guard!" The shield stopped one of the slime-snakes from approaching, freezing it slightly through sheer proximity.

"How do we identify this object?" Tsuruko asked, thankful that her husband and the other were safely unconscious in the hall, but at the same time wishing that they would wake up and help.

"We should know it when we see it," Mercury said, "since I imagine it would stand out. Jadeite has probably shielded it from my visor, but if it were here, we should still recognize it, which is troublesome."

"So tell us what to look for!" Uranus snapped. "Gale Shredder! Gale Shredder!"

"Big," Mercury replied immediately. "It would have to be large to handle the large amounts of energy. Also, there would be a faint glow, but I imagine it might not be visible in this level of light."

"Anything else?" Uranus asked, scanning the ballroom warily. She saw the rubber youma getting to its feet off to the side and growled.

"From what I've seen of Jadeite's style, I would imagine it would be made of shaped and twisted metal, where he scribed the runes and enchantments, and would also use a large number crystal to channel…the…energy…" Mercury trailed off slowly, and then swore violently. "I am an _idiot_!" Both her companions jumped and Mercury cut off the youmas' advance with another "Rime Guard!"

"What is it?" Uranus asked, exasperated and slightly shocked, and Mercury pointed straight up. Uranus looked at the ceiling and saw the chandelier hanging above them.

The large chandelier.

The large, glowing chandelier.

The large, glowing, made of twisted metal and hung with _hundreds of crystals_ chandelier.

"Break it," Mercury ordered bluntly.

"Uranus Space Shock!" The spell hit the hanging power siphon and crystal rained down across the room as visible streams of energy fled back to their owners. The blonde senshi cracked her knuckles and grinned nastily at the youma. "Now," she purred, "let's try this again, shall we?"

Mercury hung back and placed her hands together, focusing. A blue glow began to coalesce around her. Uranus opted for the more direct path.

The blonde blurred across the room faster than Mercury could see without her visor and drilled a fist into the thorny youma. Before it had finished doubling over she had smashed several arm and leg strikes into its torso and head, causing audible breaks.

"Aqua Bubble Burst!" Mercury froze one of the slimy…squidish…snake arm thingies (what were they called again?) when it tried to sneak up on the outer senshi. Thankfully, she could cast and still try to focus her energy to test her theory. Uranus negligently kicked the block of ice across the room and into the red youma's head before returning to the beat-down. She slipped into a series of moves that threw the thorny youma's broken body across the room, and turned to the still recovering rubber youma.

"Gale Shredder!" The attack took off one of its right arms. The two left arms were only partially regenerated and the hole in its chest wasn't entirely sealed. It was going to die, and it would have known it if it had any sense of self. Instead, it just flailed out with its one remaining arm. Uranus ducked the assault, closed in, and invoked the chunky-salsa rule by literally kicking its head off. She took a moment to shake the green blood and gore off of her foot. The husk collapsed to the ground and slowly began to dissolve into dust.

"Aqua Bubble Burst," Mercury cast at another of the red youma's limbs. In her other hand she held a glowing orb of cold, blue energy. Hypotheses and practices were all well and good, but eventually her ideas would have to be field-tested. This was as good a time as ever. "Freeze," she hissed, and tossed the ball at the red youma's head. It traveled slowly, letting off wisps of mist as it floated to its target, but the head was too scrambled to dodge.

The makeshift spell sank into the youma silently, and for a moment there appeared to be no effects. The moment passed. With a quiet crackle, ice crawled across the crab-legged head as the cold magic froze it from the inside. Another instant, and it shattered under the thermal stresses, its animated limbs turning to dust as well.

"Cool," Uranus commented, seeing the display. "Gale Shredder." The final youma, now headless, collapsed into dust. "Let's go help out Moon. You gonna stay behind?" she asked Tsuruko. The swordswoman was clearly exhausted, but shook her head.

"My compatriots are already being taken care of by other operatives. I will fight with you," she said firmly. Uranus raised an eyebrow as the three of them headed down the hall.

"Sure? Your husband's one of them, ain't he?"

"He would do the same, were our positions reversed. It is one of the reasons I married him," she added with a smile. "One of many."

"Well, let's go!" They ran off.  
+++++++++++++++

Sailor Moon still had enough energy, but she was wounded and had lost blood. If she could cast a spell she could turn the tide, but between dodging what she could and enduring what she couldn't she had neither the time nor the concentration needed. She couldn't even get enough breath to scream.

Tuxedo Kamen was in good physical shape but had barely enough magic left to summon a rose. There was no way he could heal his partner, much less manage a damaging attack against a Shadow Warrior.

Sakka was unharmed and still fresh, but so squishy that she didn't dare get involved to closely. Worse, the youma had figured out some way to track her movements, and each attack sent her way missed by less and less, so that she couldn't find time to aim for a clean shot. Assuming, of course, that the bullet would do anything more than sting.

In short, the forces of good were in dire straights.

Sailor Moon screamed—without magical enhancements, unfortunately—as her wounded leg gave out and she dropped to the deck. Three churning currents immediately targeted her, and she closed her eyes as death approached.

Instead of cold water, she felt warm cloth as Tuxedo Kamen raced forward and scooped her up. But while she would have enjoyed her position for longer if she could, she was wrenched out of her savior's arms only a few seconds later, as they both stumbled to the deck. A loop of water had wrapped around his ankle, and with the two of them together Tethys could focus twice the attention on them. A storm of currents surged towards them.

"Rime Guard!" The water hit the shield of ice and froze, ironically making the shield even stronger.

"Uranus Space Shock!" called the taller blonde, though the spell only made a splash against Tethys's protective layer of water. The blonde proceeded to make as big of an annoyance as possible of herself, drawing the Shadow Warrior's attention nicely.

"New spell?" Moon commented as Mercury ran up to her.

"Shut up," the bluenette almost snarled, to Moon's shock, and began checking her leader's injuries. "Can you heal her?" she asked Tuxedo Kamen. He shook his head.

"I barely have enough magic left to keep my transformation, much less heal."

"Just get me a clear shot," Moon ordered, leaning on the ice wall and trying to aim at the Shadow Warrior. They took a look at her and nodded. A pair of strong arms grabbed her and pulled her into better position.

"Is this good?" Tsuruko asked.

"Yeah, thanks."

"Can you buy a little time?" Mercury asked Kamen. "I have something that may work as well."

"I'll do my best," he said, and rushed out to help Uranus. Mercury stayed behind the wall and began concentrating, calling up the cold power that was her planetary magic. Her hands began to glow.

"Uranus Space Shock!" The spell only made a splash against the writhing pillar of water around Tethys. Uranus then rolled and jumped out of the way of a barrage of currents, using her spell to blast away the few that got to close.

"Foul demon!" A thrown deck chair crashed uselessly into the youma's watery armor, but served to get its attention. "The forces of all that are light and good stand arrayed against you. Even in the darkest of nights, there is still the light of the moon and the stars. You shall never trium-" Kamen barely dodged a tidal wave that washed harmlessly over the railing.

"No more speeches," snapped Tethys. " No more speeches, no more talking, no more stalling! Now, I am going to personally-"

"Mirror Light Escalation!" The blast hit the monologizing youma dead-center, blowing it off the deck, over the rails, and out into the ocean. "Please tell me that did it," Moon pleaded to Mercury. The bluenette shook her head, the glowing ball of blue magic in her hands providing enough illumination to show her frown as well.

"From what I could see, the Shadow Warrior was injured but alive." Moon groaned.

"What does it take for her to stay dead? I don't have many of those left."

"Actually, Moon, from what I can determine, the Moon Scepter would be very effective against this foe." Her eyes widened.

"Wait, that's a person!" she shrieked. "I thought it was one of the new ones, not one of the crystal carriers! How did they get him first without us knowing?"

"It _is_ one of the new ones," Mercury assured her. "That youma is most definitely _not_ a crystal carrier. After the first attack I set up protocols that would let me sense if the Dark Kingdom attempted to free of crystal carrier within fifty miles of my location. It hasn't gone off. Also, the youma reads more like Glurg than like Bokushi."

"But the Scepter would still work?"

"Not the Healing, or not very well, but some variation thereof would be highly effective, according to my scans."

"I can do that," Moon said, producing the scepter. "Something like Moon Scepter…Elimination?" The words were unfamiliar, but the Scepter warmed under her hands. "Yeah, that'll work. I just need another clear shot."

"I think you're about to get your wish," Uranus warned. The sea roiled and bulged, rising up under Tethys's command higher and higher. "I think she's gonna try'n swamp the ship!"

"Moon, the youma is at the very top of that wave. I'm going to freeze it to save the ship, and then you fire on my count, okay." They heard faint screams from below as—presumably—a few passengers noticed the giant wave building off to the side.

"If you can freeze it, you go," Moon agreed tiredly, and began building up power for her own spell. A hiss, and the ball of cold shot from Mercury's hands and into the water. An instant later white began to spread as it froze.

"Moon Scepter…"

"Hold it…hold it…now!"

"Elimination!" A silvery glow wafted towards the top of the ice. For a moment they saw a mangled Tethys illuminated by the light, before she collapsed into dust. Mercury, who had dropped to her knees in exhaustion, smiled.

"We did it. The youma has been dusted. Moon?" The blonde senshi had collapsed to the deck, unconscious. "That's…a good idea," the bluenette said faintly. "I think I'll join you." Mercury leaned her head on Moon's back and was instantly out.

"Cute," Uranus said drily, shaking her head. She sighed. "Well, at least they're still in uniform. C'mon," she added to the others, "I'm gonna shove them in my room and let them sleep it off. We gonna need to evac?"

"No," Tsuruko decided, shaking her head, "I think our people will be able to sail the ship back to port." She leaned down and picked up Mercury, while Uranus hoisted up Moon. "I think this went relatively well for such a risky operation, don't you?"

"Yes," Sakka agreed melting out of the shadows to both women's shock. "No fatalities, an acceptably minimal amount of collateral damage…I believe this went very well." Both just looked at her. "What? I was here all along, remember? Oh, and if you were looking for Tuxedo Kamen, he already slipped away once he was sure Sailor Moon was in no danger."

"Of course," Uranus sighed, shaking her head.  
+++++++++++++++

"I am so glad to be back," Moon said once they had slipped off the ship incognito. "I think I'm going to sleep for a week after this."

"Don't you have a date later?" Uranus teased.

"We rescheduled to Tuesday," Moon replied, "You mind if I borrow your couch? I don't want to many questions." _From my parents, _was the implied add on. If Usagi came back from a sleepover at Haruka's still exhausted, her parents might draw unpleasant conclusions. It's likely they would be the _wrong_ unpleasant conclusions, like staying up all night, but still…

"That doesn't look good," Mercury noted. The other two turned to look. Tsuruko, who had been talking in hushed tones with another agent off to the side, was now approaching. Not only did she not look like the bearer of good news, but she was visibly upset. For the normally composed woman, this was a bad sign. She drew to a stop a few from them and bowed deeply.

"I am sorry." She sounded genuinely remorseful about whatever it was. The senshi exchanged worried looks.

"What is it?" Moon asked, imagine racing into over drive. "Was there an attack? Did someone get hurt? Killed!"

"There was an attack," Tsuruko said. "Last night, after we were well out to sea. Our forces attempted to stop it, with the aid of Shadow Warrior Glurg, but it was over too quickly."

"How many casualties?" Mercury asked as Moon looked like she was about to cry.

"Only one. No one…died, per se," Tsuruko said hesitantly, "and except for the one, no one else was harmed, although Shadow warrior Glurg's location is being moved to a military base so he can help our preparations. But that is less important."

"Stop dancing around and tell us!" Uranus snarled. Tsuruko nodded, steeled herself with a deep breath, and opened her mouth.

"You failed, Jadeite." Beryl's voice lashed out at the kneeling general. "Your magnificent plan has become nothing more than a magnificent failure! You lost three youma. You lost a _Shadow Warrior_! You lost the few dregs of energy that you might have been able to recoup from this expensive, idiotic operation! You lost the chance to take the Sailor Senshi's heads!"

Jadeite said nothing, merely cowering silently. Anything he said would likely end in his death right now.

"Tethys is dead?" asked the patchwork patterned Shadow Warrior Castorand.

"Yes," Beryl snapped, "I witnessed it while scrying, to be certain. The senshi sluts dissolved her into dust." Castorand hissed morosely.

"So, I am the only one left…"

"My Queen-"

"_What,_ Nephrite? I am not in the mood for prophecies and riddles! If you do not bear good news, get out of my sight."

"He bears very good news," said the melodious voice of Beryl's pet defector, who walked into the room grinning from ear to ear.

"Then speak it, now."

"Your majesty, while Jadeite's original plan washed out, last night was still one of our greatest victories yet."

"I suggest you explain how, _quickly_. I do not like being mocked."

"Your majesty, Jadeite's flawed plan served the purpose of getting the senshi out of the city for the night, leaving only ordinary humans and Shadow warriors Glurg, neither of which could react fast enough to interfere with my own operation."

"You have brought energy?" Beryl inquired eagerly, her mood rapidly improving.

"Better." He held out his hand, showing the small stone he held.

"_A Rainbow Crystal!"_

"The indigo one. And that is not all." He and his companion stepped to the side, allowing a smaller figure to approach the throne. "Queen Beryl, I am pleased to present to you and the court a returning champion. Shadow Warrior Jiji."  
++++++++++++++

**Moon  
****Name:** Forta  
**Appearance:** Naturally blonde, but she habitually died her hair many colors, from black, to white, through blue, orange, yellow, and red. Gray eyes. 5' 2" and 120 lbs.  
**Rank:** Paternal cousin to Queen Serenity, niece of King Argent

Despite her small size, she earned her title as Commander of the senshi. Her magic was overwhelmingly powerful, and she was blindingly fast in physical combat. Off-duty, she was rather air-headed—a dreamer, a poet, and a philosopher. She used a unique weapon, a double-bladed sword-staff, partly because many of her spells were too indiscriminate for her tastes. She could channel magic through the blades, blasting her targets.

Aside from her weapon, her most commonly used spell was _Eclipse Flash,_ which was a non-offensive spell used to blind her enemies. She was married to Sailor Saturn's (Melody) brother. Both of them died in an assassination when they had dinner with two unknown parties and partook of poisoned wine. The culprit was never found.  
+++++++++++++++

Am I evil? Well...maybe a little. Now the Dark Kingdom has two Rainbow Crystals, and one of the old Shadow Warriors is free and at large. And worse, does everyone remember who Jiji's mortal counterpart is? You can imagine that things are going to blow up in a bad way. Know what I mean?


	18. Mars

Hello ladies and gentlemen. Yes, I'm _finally_ back. And by popular decree I'm introducing the one you've all been waiting to meet: Sailor Mars. This chapter is mostly a character- and world-builder, and filler, but I've secreted a few bits of foreshadowing in places. Cookies if you catch any of them.

I don't own Sailor Moon.  
++++++++++++++++

The life of Rei Cameron is an odd one, with a complex history. Her parents come from vastly different cultures, and met mostly through luck, resulting in internal conflict in their daughter's life. Religion, morality, culture, dress, family, ambition, language, and education. All of these are complex subjects for Rei that she has suffered confusion or ridicule over at least once in her life. As a result of this, combined with a rather unsteady upbringing, she has developed a rather frightening temper, and an intimidating reputation among her peers. Those who dig deeper would find that she can also be gentle, caring, and incredibly loyal toward her friends, but few both to even try, leaving her lonely.

To best understand her, one must begin with her origins: her parents. Her father Charles was a child of the British upper crust. He was raised in a wealthy family as the sole heir, though was not _too_ heavily spoiled. He aspired to political office and thus began studying political science in college, and also began interning with whatever campaigns or offices would have him. Due to his family's wealth and connections, he suffered no shortage of options.

Then, in his junior year, he had the unrivaled chance to combine internship with a year of studying abroad by working in the Britain embassy to Japan. He jumped at the chance.

His stay in the land of the rising sun would probably have been without any particularly note-worthy events had a drunken party (he would never admit to his involvement or lack thereof) resulted in a fire that burned down his dorm. Tokyo Daigaku (University) hastily rearranged dorms, bent a few of their usual rules, and he found himself across the hall from a senior studying religion. Her name was Miyabi Hino.

The two of them struck a tentative friendship that continued over the first semester, occasionally touring the area and studying together. It was nothing particularly serious at the start, and Miyabi in fact gave Charles dating advice when he pursued a relationship with one or two other co-eds. Then Mayabi's mother, Risa, passed away.

It completely shattered Miyabi, and it was mostly due to Charles's support and encouragement that she didn't flunk the year entirely. He became her crutch, and the two grew much closer. At the end of the year Charles delayed his return home to attend Risa's graduation, and afterwards he proposed marriage. She accepted.

Miyabi's father was not in favor of the union, due to how short a time they had known each other, but was unwilling to forge a gap between him and his daughter after Risa's death. He hesitantly gave his blessing, on the condition that they wait a few more months before the wedding, to better ensure that they still wanted to go through with it. Charles agreed, and returned to England with his new fiancée.

His welcome back was…mixed. Many of his peers liked Risa once they were introduced, but his family was not so accepting. Several of his relatives, most noticeably his mother, treated his engagement to Miyabi as a mere dalliance, or a phase that he would grow out of. They saw him as enthralled with the idea of an exotic bride, and would come to his senses soon enough. He did not.

A few others liked Miyabi, but were concerned for Charles's career. While being married was often a plus for a politician, being married to a foreign woman would possibly create a backlash against him, robbing Charles of votes should he ever run for office. And of course, for a few people in each group, Miyabi's Shintoism was simply too large a deal-breaker.

This was a difficult time for Charles, as he had to juggle his friends' and family's many opinions while still undergoing his last year of college. Moreover, Miyabi had to find a job for herself in order to pay the bills, often working two or three different shifts in various low-wage jobs such as waitressing, working a cashier, and doing the occasional work with languages and translation. As a result, the two saw less of each other, and tempers occasionally ran high.

To say that this time was difficult for _Charles_, however, is to leave us lacking a way to describe what it was to _Miyabi_. She found herself halfway across the world, far from her friends and family, in an unfamiliar land with foreign culture. While not especially rich, her family had always been well off, and to find herself working dead-end jobs at all hours of the day and night was a rude awakening. It was very different from the chores she had performed at the shrine.

Moreover, she was under pressure from almost everyone she knew (mostly because Charles knew them first) for reasons including her religion, her race, her accent, and others. A lesser woman might have cracked beneath the stresses, but Miyabi did not. Like a lump of coal, she endured the heat and pressure for as long as it lasted, and came out as a diamond.

The two of them stayed together in spite of the hardships, and were married not longer after Charles graduated. He entered the political world as he had wanted, while she found a job teaching Japanese. It was a little less glamorous than Miyabi had hoped for, but as long as the two of them were together she couldn't care less. All was well for three years. Then one day Charles came home to find Miyabi waiting with an odd smile, and a plastic stick marked with a pink plus.

Her pregnancy with Rei was difficult in general, and had one especially notable problem. Miyabi came down with a severe fever near the end of her second trimester that nearly resulted in her death. There was no way they could have known, but in the Silver Millennium this was a common condition when a non-noble mother was carrying a noble child, as the mother's body was unable to handle the fetus's planetary mana tap. Miyabi came out of the experience alive, but weakened, and remained confined to her bed for the rest of her term.

Charles, meanwhile, had learned to fear. The thought of losing Miyabi hurt and scared him more than he had believed possible, and he found himself pulling away. Perhaps he convinced himself that if he wasn't there, her condition wouldn't get any worse. Perhaps he was simply afraid that if she did die, he wouldn't be able to handle it. Either way, Charles threw himself into his work, seeing Miyabi much less than she would have liked. And being confined to her bed, Miyabi was unable to find him herself and say so.

This state of affairs continued until, with Miyabi's due date drawing closer and closer, her father flew over from Japan to attend his granddaughter's birth. The row he and Charles had once the circumstances came to light was almost legendary, and when the dust settled, Charles had realized his error and returned to his wife's side.

When their daughter was born only a week later, the two suffered another clash of cultures. Due to Miyabi's fever and Charles's evasions, the two had not thoroughly discussed those all-important subjects couples usually decided on, such as baby names. Despite living in England, Miyabi still considered herself strongly Japanese, and wanted her daughter's name to reflect her culture, such as Sakura, Shinobu, or Asuka.

Charles disagreed. He wanted his daughter to bear a Britain name, such as Elizabeth, Katherine, or Mary-Anne. They argued for a time, but found the first step to a compromise when Charles suggested Lisa, in honor of his mother-in-law. Miyabi, who was named for her own grandmother, didn't want to inflict the same fate on her daughter, but it raised the point that there were several names which worked well in both languages. Another hour, and they named their daughter Rei, and agreed to let her spell it Raye or Rei as she wished, when she grew older. (Amusingly, their other prime candidate as a name was Amy/Ami, which would have caused some confusion in later life.)

Having found a solution to one problem, they immediately stumbled upon another problem in need of resolution: religion. Charles wanted his daughter baptized, while Miyabi (and her father) wanted her to at least know the Shinto traditions. Thankfully this problem was resolved much quicker, as they agreed to simply leave her unbaptized so she could, again, decide for herself.

With the two largest hurdles crossed the rest was easy sailing…in so far as raising _any_ baby could be called easy. The largest issue of Rei's childhood—besides bilingualism and growing up in an upper-class family—was that she suffered violent and recurring nightmares. Images of monsters, of blood, of fire and of other such atrocities tormented her in dreams, giving her an unstable sleep cycle and other minor issues. The first time she ever truly slept well—not merely that she did not suffer nightmares, but that she actually slept peacefully—was when she was visiting her grandfather for Golden Week in Japan. Sleeping at the shrine kept her terrors at bay, and when she said as much when she was four, he gave her several charms to hang over her bed at home, and she could rest easy.

This was her first introduction to Shinto tradition, and she drank it up. There was not much chance to practice at home in England, but she began learning Japanese more seriously and practiced whenever her young mind remembered. Visiting her grandfather, it became common for her to show off her own attempts at charm-making with the same pride most children would display a picture of a pony (etc.).

The first era of Rei's life was, for the most part, a happy one. The nightmares were always lurking on the edge, but she never wanted, nor had reason to be upset more than any other child of her age would. Then, when she was six, her parents told her that she was going to be a big sister.

* * *

There is a reason why almost all of the senshi are only children. For a normal human to carry and birth a being of such magical power is an incredible strain, and it leaves its mark even years afterwards. If they were to compare stories, the senshi would find that they all were the result of difficult pregnancies. In fact, Michiru's birth mother died bringing her into the world.

Furthermore, Usagi and Haruka would find that their mothers were both hospitalized for almost half a year after giving birth to their siblings, while Minako, Rei, and Setsuna would discover that their mother's all suffered miscarriages when carrying younger siblings. In the Silver Millennium there was sufficiently advanced medical technology to treat such cases when normal women married into noble families, but that was then and this is now.

* * *

Miyabi's pregnancy miscarried in its fifth month, sending her to the hospital again. Charles fell into his old habit of pulling away to cope, as the loss of the child made his pain all the worse. With her mother in the hospital Rei's primary caregiver would have been her father, but he pulled away from her as well, determined to mourn on his own. Instead, he hired a nanny to care for the young girl. The first nanny, whose name is lost to the records of time due to Rei's youth, was competent and kind. She took Rei on outings, saw to her education and entertainment, and brought her to visit her ill mother whenever possible. It was not the same as her parents' care, but it was sufficient for the time being.

Miyabi herself was in worse shape than her husband. She had been raised Japanese, with all the cultural and societal norms that apply, and her own apparent failure as a mother hit hard. Had Charles not pulled away they could have mourned together, and maybe things would have improved. As it was, her main source of comfort was her only daughter, who was too young to understand what was going on. Rei knew that something bad, something sad, had happened—but not what. All she knew was that she wasn't a big sister anymore, and she couldn't figure out why.

After three months Miyabi finally recovered and returned home. A large gulf had opened between her and Charles, and both suspected that it would never fully close, though they never said it aloud. Had they said so, they might have realized that their fears, while rational, were untrue, and they might have gotten back together. However, Charles had pulled away, and as the traditional, submissive Japanese woman she was, Miyabi merely accepted this and did not attempt to cross the gulf he had carved.

Miyabi feared that Charles would have nothing to do with her because she was a failure as a mother. Mixing both of their cultural heritages and misinterpreting, she thought he had wanted more children, and especially a son who would carry on the family name. She loved Rei, but Miyabi rebuked herself for only being able to give him one child, who wasn't the heir she thought he wanted, and for relying on a nanny while in the hospital. However, when she broached the idea of trying for another child, he reacted with almost violent vehemence, and it was her turn to pull away.

Charles misunderstood their relationship at least as badly as Miyabi did. He loved her desperately, and was terrified of her death or the loss of her love more than he could imagine. However, he thought that he had already lost her love, and so devoted his energies merely to ensuring her life. When Miyabi broached the thought of another try, he was horrified. Though he had pulled away, he knew the hell her last two pregnancies had put her through, and could not imagine why she would want to again attempt something that seemed so fated to fail. He had never expressed desires for a large family, nor could he particularly remember her doing so. Rei, however, had been overjoyed at the thought of a new baby, and upset when she was told it would not happen.

It all, he felt, came back to Rei. Her birth had been the first thing that had threatened to rip Miyabi from him, and now he wondered if he had lost her then, in spite of her survival. He could not blame her if she loved Rei more than him, for he loved his daughter as well, but it planted a seed of envy deep within him. Now it seemed as though she was willing to risk her own death, willing to risk leaving him, all to give Rei a sibling. On a level, he knew how foolish he was being, and on a few occasions tried to spend time with Rei out of a sense of guilt, but ideas are the most tenacious of parasites, and this one was here to stay.

One of the first things Miyabi did upon returning from the hospital, in spite of her own ill health, was to insist that he dismiss Rei's nanny. While in the hospital, Miyabi had seen the woman as a valuable helper, but once home the nanny was an insult and a threat. Her presence implied that Miyabi could not care for her own daughter the way any mother should be able to, which was as bad as losing the child she had been carrying. Furthermore, while Charles had made efforts to spend more time with Rei, Miyabi feared that he was trying to spend time with Rei's caretaker. The woman—_relatively good looking, properly British, appropriately maternal, and young enough to be fertile_, her mind whispered traitorously—was already acting as a surrogate mother for Rei, and Miyabi feared that she soon would also become a surrogate wife for Charles. After all, if Miyabi had failed as a mother, it was not out of the realm of possibility that Charles might seek a replacement, in more ways than one.

The nanny, Miyabi insisted, had to go. Charles disagreed. He worried that Miyabi risked straining herself if she tried to begin taking care of Rei so soon after recovering. Not even that she was fully recovered, just recovered enough to return home. He interpreted his wife's possessiveness as her wanting to spend time with Rei instead of him, which would have been easily arranged if the nanny took care of Rei, even at the risk of her health. Nonetheless, Miyabi insisted, and he dismissed the nanny.

Sadly, Charles's fears for his wife's health had been well placed in this instance. Determined to prove herself a capable mother, or at the very least not to lose her daughter's affection as well as her husband's, Miyabi threw herself into her daughter's life with wild abandon. Among other things, she impressed onto Rei more and more of her home culture, which caused Rei some small bullying problems among her peers. Nothing serious, or even noteworthy, but it would be the small stone that started the avalanche.

As Charles feared, Miyabi overextended herself and was back in the hospital within three months. Rei, now seven, was placed under the care of another nanny. Miyabi, ill enough to be thoughtless, cycled through several nannies before finding one that she deemed not a threat. Unfortunately, the nanny who Miyabi felt would not replace her as a mother was also the oldest, sternest and strictest of the bunch. The woman had little tolerance for childish antics and activities, and felt it was her duty to see her charge raised as a proper, British, young woman.

Consider, for a moment, how this affected our young Rei. Her father had little to do with her, and her mother was hospitalized. To her eyes, her father was the one responsible for her string of progressively less fun nannies, as he was the one who introduced them and dismissed them. Her mother was the source of fun and happiness in her life, mostly through bonding over her mother's culture during hospital visits. Miyabi would tell her folk tales from her youth and help her practice speaking and writing Japanese. Then the one nanny who stays around—the one who, to her eyes, her father approves of—takes it as part of her job to keep Rei away from this 'foreign nonsense'. It was an unpleasant time and it would only get worse.

Four months after returning back to the hospital, Miyabi Cameron (nee Hino) passed away. To say Rei was devastated would be a vast understatement. There was a bright spot when, after the funeral, her grandfather took her to live with him for a few months, but it would not last. She returned home to begin primary school, and was placed into the caring hands of Nanny Battle-Axe. One of the woman's first actions were to tear down the charms above Rei's bed, and then do so again with the new ones her Grandfather had given her. Such 'heathen nonsense' was beneath a 'young lady' of her social stature. Rei's nightmares came back full force, and she began to get angry.

Rei had never been a particularly peaceful child, having inherited her father's temper, but there were tantrums, and there were _tantrums._ She became snappish and uncooperative in school, occasionally answering back at teachers in Japanese instead of English, causing trouble, and playing pranks. How do you fight back against an overwhelmingly powerful authority figure who can completely shut you down? You humiliate her behind her back, play tricks, act difficult, disobey, and do everything you can to make her go away. She was too young to understand what they were, but Rei stole and hid things from her caretaker's purse on occasion (including several balled up tissues, simply because they were in there and thus important) as well as running away in public, making more of her attempts at charms, locking herself in her room, and other such mischief.

The breaking point came when Rei, remembering her stranger danger lessons, screamed out in public that the strange woman was trying to take her away. The issue was eventually sorted out, but the nanny's temper had boiled over, and the next time Rei mouthed off (answering her in Japanese instead of English) her nanny slapped her hard enough to leave a mark. Rei had been cuffed a few times before, and spanked once, but this was too much, and Charles finally took notice and dismissed the woman immediately. His outrage on this occasion was one of Rei's few positive memories of him.

Thus began a long line of nannies to whom Rei was entrusted. None of them were as bad as 'the Battle-Axe' but there were better ones, and worse ones. The few good ones often lasted six to eight months and Rei was often sorry and tearful to see them go. She still stays in touch with three of her favorite nannies from these times. Mostly the good ones were the young ones, with ambitions of doing more in their life than this, and they left due to finding better opportunities elsewhere.

The nannies Rei didn't like, on the other hand, rarely lasted more than one or two months, with a few of the more tenacious or neutral holding out for four. Naturally, the constant changing of caretakers did not give Rei the most stable of childhoods, and so she could be somewhat…problematic. She did find some friends in her school, but not an abundance. Mostly they were either alienated by her clinging to as many Japanese traditions as she could, in honor of both her mother and grandfather, or they were prompted to befriend her by their families, and Rei saw through the masquerade immediately.

Not being raised in a highly spiritual way, Rei's sixth sense was both weaker and wilder than if her grandfather had raised her at the shrine. She was an excellent judge of character, but the occasional glimpses of the past or future she got were extraordinarily confusing and frightening for the young girl, and odd things had a tendency to happen around her, especially when she hit emotional extremes. Once or twice, she wondered if she was a monster, and that was why her father didn't love her.

This is not to say that Rei's life had no spirituality in it. She was from a wealthy family, easily capable of affording transcontinental plane-fare. She often spent holidays with her grandfather, drinking in Japanese culture like a sponge, and the tales and knick-knacks she brought back afforded her a measure of popularity among her peers. She learned what she could of Shinto, and diligently practiced her charms and prayers while back in England. What's more, despite not being on the same social class as his son-in-law, Rei's grandfather would often fly up to visit her on special occasions. He attended every one of her birthdays, a school play she had a part in, and two different talent shows where she played the piano and sang.

Rei's father, on the other hand, remained distant. It was not unheard for her to go two or three days without even _seeing_ him, and during an election campaign an entire week without his presence was not uncommon. He would bring her to the occasional party to show off, of course, but he could hardly be called attentive during those times. Those rare occasions where he scolded her were often the longest conversations they would have, as he would also ask about her life at those times. In hopes of attracting more of his attention Rei began acting out.

It wasn't too different from her previous actions, and on a much smaller scale than what she had done to 'the Battle-Axe,' but it got the occasional result. She began purposefully looking up foul words and uncouth phrases and dropping them in social settings to get a reaction. Among her age-group, the reaction was part shock, part admiration at her daring, elevating her even further in her peers' eyes. It didn't earn her many _close_ friends, but she had a relatively large social circle of acquaintances, most of which held her in respect.

The times it caught her father's attention it would earn her a lecture, after which he would begin questioning her about where she heard such language, which would evolve into general questions about her life. Mission accomplished.

When Rei was twelve, she was declared old enough to no longer need a nanny, as the household servants could help her with whatever she couldn't handle herself. She did not, surprisingly, use the new freedom in any particularly shocking ways, but there was one long-term affect. As Rei got older, her crude language ceased to be so shocking, so she began looking for new ways to initiate lectures/conversations with her father.

She did her best to convince herself that she merely wanted to shock and upset him because he was a horrible father, the truth was quite the opposite. With her mother dead (and almost deified in Rei's eyes) she desperately sought out her father's attention, no matter how difficult it was. On a related note, when she learned about scarcity value in class, she felt rather uncomfortable for a reason she couldn't quite put her finger on. Had Charles given her more of the attention and affection she so desperately sought, Rei would have turned out to be even more of a daddy's girl than she already (unadmittedly) was. But he wouldn't, so with language ceasing to get the reactions she craved, and secretly hoping to attract his attention by being more like him, she turned to what others might call, 'desperate measures'.

Rei began stealing some of her father's cigarette's and smoking them. The first time she only smoked one, in secret, and found it horrifically disgusting. Had Charles noticed the smell of smoke on his daughter's breath and clothes she would have happily never done so again, considering it a mission accomplished. He did not, however, so she continued stealing smokes, as it made her feel closer to him. Gradually the nicotine addiction became a substitute for the filial contact she craved, and while she remembered much of what foul language she had learned, she no longer acted out so shockingly.

Rei, for reasons she never quite understood, kept her new habit a secret from her grandfather as fervently as she secretly wanted her father to notice. She knew it would cause the old man shock and disappointment, and that was the _last_ thing she _ever_ wanted. Due to this, as well as the conflicting social issues caused by her desire to emulate Japanese culture, the presence of Rei's grandfather often (unknown to him) brought up issues in her personal life when he visited, but she loved him fervently and saw him every chance she got even so.

* * *

Worthy of note is the one time Charles did something totally and undeniably _right._ He caught a few idle hints Rei had dropped about maybe possibly having a slight interest in getting a pet, and for her twelth birthday gave her two ravens from the same flock kept at the Tower of London. She was overjoyed thanked him ferociously. Rei named the two birds Phobos and Deimos, at the suggestion of a friend who was fond of Greek myths.

While things between Rei and Charles had regressed to the way they were in a few more months, it was the best their relationship had been in years. Rei doted on her two pets and they bonded with her. At times she felt they could read her mind, if not understand what she said, and the two birds proved to be clever and easily trained. Rei extended their 'leashes' farther and farther, eventually just leaving her window open when the weather was good and trusting the two birds to come, go, and return as they pleased. And return they always did.

So while Rei's relationship with her father could be strained and distant at times, she had a happy life. She was popular among her peers due to her wealth, grace and boldness, even if she did not have many close friends. She adored her grandfather, and the two saw each other every time they could, and she continued to grow in her abilities as a miko, no matter how scarcely used instead of practiced. In her birds she had found a pair of secret keepers who would neither judge nor mock, but offered unconditional support in trying times.

The fact that they were (supposedly) unable to understand her was of no account to any of the three, as the crows reacted appropriately to her words. She told about her day, about her schoolwork, about her friends. She told them about her first crush, on an intern in her father's office named Daniel Bright, who had slipped a flower behind her ear when they met. She told them her desires, she told them her fantasies, and she told them her wishes and dreams. And they never laughed.

Then, not long before her thirteenth birthday, Rei met a white cat with a strange bald spot…

* * *

The changes that Artemis brought into her life were shocking. Rei had always believed in a degree of mysticism, but actually fighting demons was something she had never imagined. To find out that people's lives, and possibly even the fate of the word, relied on her actions as Sailor M was rather…ego-inflating. For a week or two she was practically walking on clouds around her classmates, and while she never shared any details it was clear something good had happened.

Then she made a mistake. Nothing permanent came of it, as the youma victim survived, but the horror that her actions had almost cost someone their life at the hands of the Dark Kingdom was frighteningly humbling. Rei began to have self-doubts, and Artemis only barely pulled her out of her worries enough to function. She began taking her duties much more seriously, pulling away from her peers a little so that she could spend more time practicing, making sure that such mistakes would never happen again. She had to be perfect, or else.

And when mistakes continued, though still non-fatal, and more due to exhaustion or simple human error than anything else, she began to enter of cycle of depression and self-recrimination. If she wasn't perfect, then she wasn't good enough, and had to get better. What other purpose did she have, after all? Her mother was dead, her father didn't love her, her friends were mostly distant, and her closest companions were three animals, only one of which could talk. And, oh yes, she was a freak of nature with psychic powers who ran around in a glorified Japanese school uniform at night and threw pieces of magical paper at soul-sucking demons.

If there was a good side to her position as Sailor M, it was that. Her charms, especially the few versions Artemis taught her, had genuine power behind them now. She could freeze youma in their tracks, raise protective wards, and even make her tags explode in her targets' faces. Her control over her abilities was becoming stronger and finer.

And then, one day, she wasn't alone. He introduced himself as Phantom Ace, slipping into a battle and destroying a youma with several enchanted playing cards. She never knew his real name, but he acted as encouragement for her as she became more and more confident in destroying the various youma. Unfortunately, youma were not all that Sailor M and Phantom ace had to face. The Dark Kingdom had begun recruiting, it appeared, and humans were all too often showing up in some form of authority during the operations. Artemis told her stories of the Shittennou, but none of them made an appearance, and Rei found herself hoping that they never did.

The humans working for the Dark Kingdom were defeated, and handed over to the police as criminals. None of them, thankfully, had magic. The Dark Kingdom, it appeared, would not waste gifts of power on mooks like them, nor would they rescue the scum once they failed. The odd events, however, were bound to catch attention, especially as some of the captured criminals would fall into comas or die after being taken into custody.

An officer named Katarina was assigned to the case of the Mysterious Sailor M. At first her job was to try and catch Sailor M, to bring her in for questioning. The authorities didn't have anything on her other than general vigilantism, but they wanted answers. Then, after bring rescued from a youma attack, Katarina began to realize that something bigger was going on, and began cooperating with M instead. What happened between her and her superiors as a result of this is uncertain, but she stayed on the case and they took off on their new direction, together.

Meanwhile, in Rei's personal life, she was ecstatic. Dan was showing her attention whenever they met, taking time to talk with her, inquire how she was, how her day had been, etc. Once, he brought up that he had some small supernatural abilities, and for the first time she confessed her own psychic dreams. They met up for the occasional coffee, or tea time, and he took her to a few historical areas to explore, such as the Tower of London or various palace gardens, with mazes and historical tours. Rei happily spent the entire time latched onto his arm, drinking up the attention, and haughtily used the excuse of learning more about politics or history whenever someone (a classmate, Artemis, her father,) brought up her time spent with a man so much older.

She was certain it was love. Meanwhile, Sailor M, Phantom Ace, and Katarina were waging a three-man war on supernatural crime and winning. Ace never stuck around long, leaving Katarina with some uncomfortable suspicions, but Rei vouched for Ace's good intentions repeatedly, never mind that they didn't know how he came and went. Then, Rei did the one thing Artemis had so strenuously warned against. She revealed her identity to Katarina.

Not everything. Katarina knew her first name, and what she looked like, but London was a large place and chances were they would never cross paths in real life. Katarina still didn't know Rei's last name, or her family, or how to contact her. Rei was positive that nothing bad would come of it, and for more than two weeks, nothing did. Then the event of Rei's dreams occurred. Dan asked her out on a date.

An actual, explicitly-called-a-date, dinner outing to a fancy restaurant. Rei was ecstatic. Artemis was more wary, but she waved aside his concerns. After all, what could possibly go wrong? Had Rei and Usagi known each other at this point, the blonde would have slapped an appropriate amount of genre savvy into the other's head. As it was, Rei had no idea how doomed her date truly was. The last thing she remembered was sipping on the one glass of wine he had allowed her and wincing at the taste. She'd drunk it down anyway, and felt her eyelids grow heavy, and then her forehead hit the table.

When she awoke, it was in a mostly abandoned warehouse, and she found herself face-to-face with Phantom Ace. And he removed his mask to reveal himself as Dan. She was shaking off the effects of the drugs, confused, excited, and frightened. On the one hand, the man she was crushing on was also her crime-fighting partner—it was a match made in heaven. On the other hand, he had drugged her, dragged her to an abandoned warehouse, and manipulated her, hiding the fact that he had figured out who she was. And then he began to speak.

His birth name, Dan explained, was actually Alan, and he had always had supernatural powers, although not as strong as hers. After an…unfortunate incident in his adolescence, which he skated over and would not discuss, he had changed his name and entered politics, using his powers to cover his tracks. He couldn't do much, but her could do that, influencing peoples' minds to like him, and not dig too deeply for his secrets, as well as sense when other people had some abilities. He didn't mention what happened when he found others with powers, and when she asked he simply said that she didn't need to worry.

He'd hoped to use his abilities as an edge that could help him rise to political power, but had been stymied by his inability to effect many people at once. Then, he explained, he had been contacted by the Dark Kingdom. They had sensed his actions while operating in the area and recruited him, giving him a small measure of power to further increase his abilities. He had used this power to recruit the people they had fought and arrested, and he revealed that while he had to sabotage most of his own operations, he had kept his head both by entering her [Rei's] good graces, and by draining the energy of the low-level scum he had recruited.

When she managed to slur out a quiet, "why?" he had smiled and answered. Because of you, he said. You see, he wasn't really on the Dark Kingdom's side. He liked Earth as it was, except for him not being in charge of it, and didn't want the Dark Kingdom to gain control. They're afraid of you, of what you can do, he whispered alluringly. Join me, and together we can use them, and turn the tides. England will unite under us as heroes when we reveal the threat among our midst. And when we take their power for our own, we will be invincible.

Dan even revealed that he had even been altering and making his own versions of youma, so that they were loyal to him and not the Dark Kingdom. Rei looked him in the eyes, searching for the gentle man that had captured her heart. Then she closed her eyes and stretched out her senses as far as they could go. She searched the future for the world he sought to create, and she searched the past to see what he had done to arrive where he was, and she searched the present to see what he said and what he meant.

She awoke to Artemis's voice in her mind telling her to wait for an opening and be careful. To his credit, Dan was hovering over her looking worried, and he regretfully admitted that the drugs had been, perhaps, a tad too strong for her. Was she all right? Rei spat in his face.

I know what you are, she said, and I want none of it. She twisted and ran out of his reach, hiding behind a pile of crates. He didn't pursue her. He simply laughed, and turned her blood to ice with a single word. The word brought out two of his youma carrying a misshapen, bloody package between them. The word was: Katarina.

If Rei would not work _with_ him, he threatened, she would work _for_ him in exchange for her friend's life. Around them a group of youma rustled, chirped, growled, and clicked in the shadows. Dan knew, he added, that she couldn't transform because he had stolen her compact. Katarina had been a wealth of information about Sailor M once he realized what she knew. Artemis, at her feet, pressed her Mars wand into her hand, and she hid it behind her back. Then she walked out into the open and surrendered. Dan smiled, and began to gloat about how he would soon have the world at his feet. At which point a cold voice cut through, saying that he had outlived his usefulness.

Kunzite, Dan had identified the figure as, before a wave of darkness had swept across the room. Rei did not remember much of the night after that. She remembered holding her wand high and screaming the words engraved on her heart. She remembered the power she had felt when she first took her form as Mars, instead of M. She remembered seeing Dan run through on Kunzite's sword. She remembered seeing, sensing, _feeling_ the life leave Katarina's unconscious body at the jaws of a youma. She remembered seeing Dan laughing as he bled out. She remembered the inferno she summoned reducing the warehouse to cinders. And she remembered little else.

When she woke the next day she had simply locked herself away and screamed. And sobbed. And cried. And prayed.

It helped a little. It wasn't until the day after that she was willing to talk to Artemis about the mission. He told her that Moon had been discovered in Japan, and that they should head out to help her, and wouldn't she like to see her grandfather again? He told her that what happened wasn't her fault, and to his surprise, she agreed. It was Dan Bright's fault for selling his soul, but that didn't mean she couldn't have handled it better. Then she refused to go to Japan. Not right away, at least.

Rei remembered that some of the youma had escaped the blaze, and would no doubt prey upon the innocent if left unchecked. She couldn't leave for Japan until hunting them all down. To her surprise, Artemis concurred, but stated that she would have to do it as Sailor M, still.

Wouldn't that be dangerous? The police were bound to be looking for M for her connection in the fire. No, Artemis explained, the fire was being written off as natural, and M wasn't guessed to have been involved. Fire spells were unique to Mars, not M, and no evidence had survived the blaze. Her slate was clean.

And so Rei began hunting the escaped youma. It was slow going, relying on her psychic abilities to track them. When she began meditating to search, however, she found something else. The Dark Kingdom was planning something big, she told Artemis. It was planning something big, and she needed to be around to stop it. It wouldn't happen for a while, but if she went over and began helping Moon and the other senshi, whose identities she still didn't know, it would result in the Dark Kingdom succeeding with that attack. She needed to stay back to act as a trump card. Artemis took her message at face value and passed it onto his Japanese counter-part.

She hunted the escaped youma down and waited, listening for news from Japan. And then, one night, Artemis dropped a bombshell.

* * *

"My grandfather was _what_!" she screamed, throwing a shoe that Artemis barely dodged. He waited for a few moments and then repeated the message.

"Your grandfather has been taken by the Dark Kingdom. He's still alive, but…"

"Why?" Rei choked out, trying not to cry. Artemis hesitated, and she jumped on it. "Why Artemis? Why my grandfather? What the bloody hell do those arseholes in the Dark Kingdom want from him? Is it because of me?"

"Because of you? Why would it be because of you?" She threw the other shoe at him.

"Mars, you idiot! I'm Sailor Mars! Use your loaf, you twit! Did they take him to get to me? If _that man_ told them about my identity they might be trying to blackmail me the way he did, with…like…" She trailed off unwilling to mention Katarina. Artemis shook his head.

"No, Rei, it wasn't because of you."

"You can't know that."

"I can." He paused and sighed. "Rei, your grandfather is a crystal carrier." She went dead white.

"A what?" she whispered. Artemis soldiered on.

"The Dark Kingdom took out the Rainbow Crystal and awakened the youma within him. The other senshi weren't there to stop it and the general took him with them when they left."

"Why the bleedin' hell didn't they stop it! Isn't that their job?" she shrieked. "Were they just sitting around on their Khyber or were they Brahms'd out of their mind?"

"Distraction," Artemis stated bluntly.

"What."

"The Dark Kingdom set up a distraction by launching an operation that could have easily targeted a few hundred people in a few hours. The problem was, the location was a distance away from the city. We presumed it was to keep the senshi away from the operation, but it appears it was actually to keep them away from the city. They never even found out until the next day." Rei swore.

"They're brown bread when I get my hands on them, got it? I'm going to rip out the Generals' Barnet, scorch their boats black, and make them hack off their Cobbler's with their own Hampsteads!"

"Is that right?" Artemis mused, trying to decipher the slang Rei was fond of.

"Yes. Artemis, make preparations."

"Preparations?"

"We're going to Japan."

"What! How? It's the middle of the school year! You won't be able to stay with your grandfather! Your father won't ever go for it! What about your prophecy and being a trump card?"

"Screw the prophecy," she snarled, and Phobos and Deimos flew off their perches and began circling her as she transformed into Mars, instead of M. "I'm going to hunt down all the youma we have left at full power, and you think about how to convince my father. I don't care if you have to hypnotize him, or if I have to drag out every piece of blackmail I have, but I will get to Japan even if I have to swim there on my Pat!"

"Alright," Artemis hurriedly agreed, sweat-dropping as his young charge leapt out the window. He sighed. "Oh great, how am I going to manage this?"  
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That's it. The secret origin of the Mysterious Sailor M. Not what you expected, or exactly what you thought it would be? Leave a review and say so.

Also, I might not update quite as often as I used to, but I will try.


	19. Hearts, Minds, and Dreams

I will make no excuses for how long this chapter took, except to say that I hope it meets expectations. We'll see how often I manage to keep updating. Not only is this my longest chapter, but with it I have finally passed 150,000 words. Hooray!  
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It was Tuesday. Three days since the senshi's—to quote Usagi—most magnificent failure yet. She'd taken the kidnapping of Hino-sensei hard, thinking that it should have been her responsibility to find him. She had told him who she was, she had been the one to meet and trust him, she had been the one who was going to visit him the next day. Had she gone to see him earlier, or had the Dark Kingdom made its move even a day later, she would have found him out as a crystal carrier first, and could have gotten the crystal safely. Instead, the Dark Kingdom found him when the senshi were too far away to help, and now he was at their mercy, and the Dark Kingdom not only had another crystal, but a new Shadow Warrior as well.

Needless to say, Usagi was kicking herself hard, and working herself harder.

She had been training in senshi form almost non-stop since they heard the news, telling her family she was with Haruka on Sunday, and she was literally dragged to school by Ami and Naru on Monday. It was only an appeal from Ami—about how exhaustion was a worse enemy than the Dark Kingdom—that finally got her to stop punishing herself in the name of improvement. She'd agreed to rest all of Tuesday and Wednesday, only transforming if there were confirmed Dark Kingdom activity, and had handed the Moon Scepter over to Haruka, who would take over the search for crystal carriers.

Currently, she was wandering the museum after Mamoru had taken her to a draw-your-own-manga class there. Admittedly, when she first heard he was taking her to the museum she'd been a bit nervous, since she and culture didn't mix very well, but he'd said she'd be surprised, and she was. Pleasantly.

Currently, she was on his arm as they toured the paintings section.

"What is it with guys painting naked women, anyway?" she asked, eyeing the area of pigmented flesh before her. "What kind of woman would strip down and pose for this, too?"

"Well," Mamoru tried to answer, "it's art, so at the time it was something of an honor, I guess. The women would have their beauty recorded for the future by a master, you know? In a way, they'd live forever, no matter who they were. Like the Mona Lisa."

"What about the Mona Lisa? That's the one with the smile, right?"

"Right. Do you know who the woman was, in real life?" Usagi paused, putting a finger to her mouth, and hmmed.

"No…but I'm guessing she was probably really rich and powerful or something. Like a princess, or a queen!"

"Not at all," Mamoru corrected her. "She was the wife of a merchant, and Da Vinci painted the picture because he was broke and owed the merchant money."

"Really? How was he broke if he was such a great artist?" she asked, looking up at him with wide, blue eyes. Mamoru had to glance away, or he worried he'd fall into her eyes and drown.

"I'm pretty sure Da Vinci wasn't rich, or particularly famous, until after he died. Sure, he made a name for himself when he was alive, but even that was only when he was old, and his works had had a chance to circulate."

"Really?"

"Really. It's like that with a lot of artists. They don't become famous until after they've died, because then their works have scarcity value. They aren't going to be painting new portraits after they're dead, so what they've left is all there is."

"That's sorta morbid," Usagi commented, her eyes flickering across the walls and the paintings hanging on them, wondering what their creators were like and what happened to them. "Hey, wait," she realized, "if they weren't really famous until after they died, then how did they get people to pose for them? The women couldn't know whether the painting was going to be famous or not!"

"Good question. I'm not really sure," Mamoru admitted, turning the question over in his head. "Some of them were famous, I guess, but you're right. Everyone has to start somewhere."

"Yeah, so how did they start getting models?" Usagi wondered. "I can't believe anyone would just pose for a random stranger to paint them. Wouldn't it take forever?"

"Several hours, at least," Mamoru agreed. "I know that it's common practice to pay models now, so maybe they did the same thing? A lot of the artist would have side jobs as carpenters or merchants, and they'd pay women to model for their paintings."

"So a woman would strip naked and get ogled by a guy she doesn't know for money," Usagi deadpanned, and Mamoru found himself chuckling at the summation.

"Yes, when you put it like that…"

"And the painters were pretty obviously all guys!" she ranted, waving her arms around to indicate the paintings on the wall. "Just look! It's all naked girls! Wasn't there any gender equality back then?"

Rather than give the historically correct *negative* answer, Mamoru just pointed. "Like that?" Usagi followed his finger, and yelped when she found herself with an eyeful.

"My eyes! My innocent virgin eyes!" She promptly whirled around and buried her face in Mamoru's chest, wrapping her arms around his waist. His enjoyment of the embrace was tempered by the fact that she appeared to be shaking with sobs, and he found himself wondering if the joke had gone a little too far. She _did_ seem to be a very innocent fourteen-year-old.

"Usagi? Usagi, are you alright?"

"No, I'm not alright!" Her voice was muffled by his shirt and chest, but still audible. "I'm ruined! Ruined! How can I ever get married with my mind defiled so? Now I'll never wear a white dress, or walk down the virgin's road, or have a house with a white picket fence and two little children!"

"Usagi?" Mamoru tried to look her in the eyes to reassure her. "Usagi, it's really not that bad. Plenty of—you're _teasing_ me!" Sure enough, a wide grin spread across her face as her 'sobs' turned into laughter.

"T-the look on your f-face," she choked out, giggling.

"Har har, hardy har har," Mamoru drawled. She pulled slightly away, but didn't let go, and didn't stop grinning. Then they both heard the rapid click of quickly approaching footsteps.

"Oh, you're perfect!" a woman exclaimed, rushing up to them. They blinked at her, confused. "Please, you're just the people Ms. Lanai has been looking for!"

"Um, hello?" Usagi asked.

"Lanai? Lawny Lanai the artist?" Mamoru queried.

"Oh, yes!" the rather plain woman exclaimed, and backed up a few steps, embarrassed. "My name is Peggy Jones, and I'm Miss Lanai's assistant. She's having a showing of her work here, and she asked me to stand by and scout out any possible models for her, and, well…the two of you are perfect!"

"Really?" Usagi asked, and then suddenly something clicked. "Wait, Lawny Lanai! Isn't she the famous artist, and it's said that if you have one of her works you'll be sure to find your true love?"

"I—well—yes, there are people who say that," Peggy admitted.

"You really think she'd want me to model for her?" Usagi babbled. "That's so _cool!"_

"Yes, I'd be interested to hear why we're so perfect," Mamoru added.

"Well…please follow me. It's simpler just to show you," Peggy said, taking their elbows, and began leading them through the museum. A few turns later she led them into a room displaying modern works, and both of them froze.

_The Moon…_ Usagi thought to herself, her eyes growing wide and filling with visions of white towers and arches, and a dark sky filled with stars. A blue and green crescent, Earth, hung luminescent in the night sky behind the towers.

_The Princess's palace_, Mamoru recognized, focusing on a painting of a garden with shadowed people. Central to the picture were two mournful figures on the ground, a man lying on his back and a woman bent over him, weeping. _Is that…the princess? It looks like her, but there aren't many details._

"This is beautiful," Usagi whispered to herself. Then she saw the people in the pictures, most of them very beautiful as well, but… "but so sad…"

"Yes. This is Ms. Lanai's most famous and favorite series, The Kingdom On The Moon. She's been looking for people she can use as models for the figures, and you're exactly who she's been looking for. Would you please be willing to work as models?" She looked so earnest and eager that they both found themselves looking at each other.

"I'm all for it, if you don't mind," Usagi told Mamoru. _Not to mention, it'll let me get close to another potential senshi._

"It seems like it would be interesting," Mamoru agreed. _And I may be able to give Sailor Moon a lead on another senshi or crystal carrier. Assuming, or course, that Lanai hasn't been replaced by a youma._

"Wonderful!" Peggy exclaimed, pulling out a datebook. "When would you be available to model?"

"Uh, we can keep our clothes on, right?" Usagi asked warily.

"Yes, of course," Peggy said, confused, before it clicked. "Yes, don't worry, Ms. Lanai hasn't painted nudes in a long time. She doesn't need to."

"Doesn't need to?" Usagi asked.

"Those types of paintings are mostly used to practice bodies and musculature, these days," she explained.

"Would Sunday work?" Mamoru asked. Usagi nodded enthusiastically and Lanai beamed brilliantly.

"Yes. Can you be at this address at one thirty? And please, keep the address to yourself. Ms. Lanai dislikes being disturbed by the paparazzi."

"We'll be there," Usagi said.  
+++++++++++++++++++++

"Um, just a sec, I need to take this," Usagi mentioned to Mamoru as they were leaving the museum, embarrassed that her communicator began to buzz. She scurried around a corner a flipped it open. "What is it, another Crystal Carrier?" she hissed anxiously.

"Just an attack, but it's a tricky one," Uranus told her. "People at the Dreamland Amusement Park have started turning up drained."

"Dreamland's still open? It's almost winter!"

"Half-price admission for their last week," the blonde explained. "It's probably the youma's doing, and if we don't stop them soon, either Dreamland will close or the youma will run."

"I'll be right there," Usagi assured them, only for Uranus to shake her head.

"We don't think we'll need you for this one, it seems pretty low-level. We just wanted to tell you to keep your communicator with you in case we need back-up."

"Oh. Okay," Usagi said, wilting slightly. Then she perked up and delivered her news: "I think I found another senshi!"

"You did! Who?"

"Have you ever heard of Lawny Lanai? She does paintings?"

"Yeah, I've heard a bit about her," Haruka told her. "What makes you think she's one of us?"

"Well, Luna said that Sailor Neptune was an artist with some psychic powers, right? Lanai's an artist, and some of her paintings look a lot like what I've seen of the Moon Kingdom, including a painting that might be of the Moon Princess! She might be able to help us find the princess if she remembers what the princess looks like!"

"It might be a trap," Haruka warned with a frown.

"Lawny Lanai's been famous since way before the Dark Kingdom ever showed up. And I'm modeling for her this weekend, so I figure I'll just bring Luna and she can tell if Lanai is a senshi."

"Sounds good, Koneko," Haruka teased with a smile. "Now enjoy your date, and we'll call if we need any help." The screen went blank. Usagi folded it up and took a moment to think about their two potential senshi. _Lanai and Reika are both older than Ami and me, so if Lanai is Neptune, then Reika is probably Pluto. If I'm right, we'll get another two senshi soon, and Luna said that Sailor M—that Sailor Mars should be showing up in a month or so. We'll have double the senshi on our side._ She smiled, and turned to meet back up with Mamoru. _The Dark Kingdom is going to get its butt kicked.  
+++++++++++++++++++_

"So where do we head first?" Haruka asked Ami as they both looked at a map of Dreamland. "I vote the haunted house. It seems like a good place for vampires to hang out."

"I would like to point out that our victim may not have been—and probably _was_ _not_—completely coherent when she slurred out that comment," Ami told Haruka, who shrugged. "Also, doesn't the haunted house seem a little…obvious for a monster's lair?"

"It's as good a place to start as any," Haruka suggested, and Ami nodded. The haunted house was close, so they started walking towards the line, and Ami began fiddling with the Mercury Computer. "Any leads?" Haruka asked.

"No, but I scanned the map, and I'm attempting to cut down the number of locations we need to search," the bluenette explained. "It _would _have to be a dark, enclosed space, where people wouldn't notice any actions the Dark Kingdom takes. So we can rule out the roller-coasters."

"Spoilsport," Haruka pouted. "I bet you just love to avoid them."

"Well, yes, I've never been overly fond of the adrenalin rush," Ami admitted. Her computer dinged. "I have a list of likely locations. The haunted house, the mirror maze, there's a shooting ride near the arcade, the Dream Princess's performance area, and," she paused and gulped as Haruka looked over her shoulder.

"An underground rollercoaster? Awesome. Let's try that first."

"Ah…maybe you can investigate it, and I'll stand by as backup." Haruka arched an eyebrow.

"I'm not crazy enough to go in there on my own. Besides, you're the one who's good at scanning for energy. You can't get out of this just because you're scared."

"You can't make me go just because you want to!" Ami countered, blanching. "You just want to go because you like those things, and you want to see me scream! You're perfectly capable of going in on your own and calling for help!"

"Calling for help once I'm in trouble, sure, but how long would it take you to get there? How many youma would I be at the mercy of? You do remember what happened in my first fight against a youma without back-up, right? We probably don't have Tux-boy here to heal me, so I don't want to take any chances."

"So let's search the other rides first, and only go there if we don't find anything," Ami babbled.

"Two of them are on the other side of the park, and I see a line on the haunted house," Haruka countered. "The Spelunker is over there, and the wait for it looks less than fifteen minutes. Do you know how rare that is at parks like this? It's convenient to search it now, so we can cross it off our list or find and stop the youma."

"…I just really, _really_ hate these things," Ami murmured, casting her eyes down in shame. "The last time I went on one I threw up all over my father."

"Tough. We have to go on these to find the youma, and-"

"Ami? Is that you?" a boy asked, walking up to them.

"Ryo!" she squeaked, immediately flushing red. "What are you doing here?"

"It's my little sister's birthday, so we're having a party here," he explained, motioning to a gaggle of young girls herded by a harried looking woman in line for the haunted house. "What about you?" He paused, his eyes flickering to Haruka. "Enjoying the day with your boyfriend?" The touch of hurt in his voice galvanized her more than the question itself.

"N-no!" She grabbed his shoulder, leaning in unconsciously, and hastily assured him, "Haruka isn't my boyfriend! Just a friend and my martial arts tutor."

"Yeah, I'm a bit old for her. How about you?" Haruka asked suggestively.

"Ah, no, Ami and I aren't going out," he admitted, but linked arms with her all the same. "Would you mind horribly if I hung around with you, then? One more giggle is liable to drive me insane."

"Not at all," Ami blurted out, just as Haruka drawled, "Yeah, this is sorta a pers'nal thing." They shot each other dirty looks. "'Scuse us for a moment," Haruka growled, and dragged Ami out of earshot, and the bluenette waved off Ryo from following. "Dammit Blue, what the hell are you _thinking?_ Aren't you supposed to be the smart one?"

"Yes, and I'm not going to let you strong-arm me about this just because Usagi isn't here," Ami snapped back with surprising vehemence. "I've got seniority over you and I think this will be the perfect cover for us."

"Cover! What do you think will happen if we find a youma and have to fight it with a sitting duck like him around?"

"I think that we'll go through the ride like the hundreds of other people who do each day, and then we'll come back later and kill it," Ami answered. "Later, when we're alone and can take _it_ by surprise, instead of the other way around."

"And how do you propose to get away from him when we need to go?" Haruka asked snidely.

"It can be after we've said goodbye for the day. Or I can tell him I feel awkward hovering over his sister's birthday party. I could find a ride he doesn't want to go on, and pretend that I do and go without him. Or I can make something up! Maybe I'll tell him I have cramps, and would he please excuse me for a few minutes," Ami primly answered. "Boys don't like to talk about things like that, you know? Oh, except you don't. You're-"

"_Don't finish that sentence_," Haruka snarled quietly, grabbing Ami's shoulder.

"Is everything all right?" Ryo asked from behind them. He narrowed his eyes at Haruka as they both spun around, Haruka releasing Ami. "It looked like you two were arguing." Ryo bit back an offer to leave, not willing to leave Ami with this person after what he'd seen. The girls shot each other dirty looks.

"We were disagreeing about what ride to go on next," Ami explained. "I wanted to go to the haunted house with you, but Haruka had her mouth set on the Spelunker. Maybe we should just split up?"

"No," Haruka managed through gritted teeth, "that would kinda defeat the point." She forced out a calming breath. "I'll go with you through the haunted house, but after that we're hitting the Spelunker, okay?"

"Sounds like fun," Ryo agreed carefully, to the others' surprise. "The Spelunker has four seats in a car, so we can all go together." He paused, and took Ami's hand. "Although you don't have to go if you don't want to," he added solemnly, shooting Haruka an accusatory glance. Then he reached out with his mind, feeling the slight pressure behind his eyes, and lightly touched her mind.

_That's…not what I was expecting,_ he admitted to himself. Instead of whatever anger, jealousy, possessiveness, or malice he had expected there was a plethora of lighter emotions. _Impatience, yes, but it's tied to something else. Fear? Is this guy afraid of something? He's like a tightly coiled spring, but…he doesn't actually seem like a bad person, I suppose. Still, I'd rather not leave Ami alone._

The genius girl took a moment to recollect herself. "N-no, I suppose I can try to go if you're there with me," she said. "And I did promise Haruka I would. Expanding my h-horizons…shouldn't be too bad. Should we get in line?" She gestured to a clump of people approaching, and they quickly got in line with the gaggle of giggling little girls, making introductions as needed.  
+++++++++++++++++

"Merciful Moon…" Ami groaned pathetically, hunched over a trashcan. The bitter taste and stench—she closed her eyes to block out the image of the mess—made her stomach roil again. Luckily, there was nothing else in there to lose.

"Aw, man, I didn't realize it would hit you that bad," Haruka apologized, standing by awkwardly and wringing her hands. Ryo rubbed Ami's back soothingly and helped her stand up.

"There's a _reason_ I hate these things," the bluenette groaned, and the blonde moved forward with a handkerchief to clean off her face.

"Here, let me get her cleaned up in the bathroom, and you go get some water she can drink," Haruka told Ryo. He looked like he was about to argue, but Haruka's face was sincere enough to make him pause, and the two of them were in the bathroom before he could say anything.

"Guh…" Ami gurgled when she saw her reflection above the sink.

"I'm really, really sorry," Haruka muttered scrubbing her face with cold water and a towel. "You were right to try and avoid the Spelunker. Lean down and rinse your mouth out in the faucet."

Ami did so, and three rinses later raised her head. "No, I'm sorry too. Avoiding it and fighting with you like I did could have put people in danger. The youma was more important."

"You're plenty important," Haruka fussed. "Speaking of which, though, did you detect a youma?"

Ami splashed water on her face and dried her hands carefully before producing the Mercury Computer. "No, nothing. So we still have three places to search."

"So, I guess we didn't need to go on the ride after all," Haruka said, combing Ami's hair with her fingers. "Sorry 'bout that. I let my adrenalin addiction get away from me."

"Stop that," Ami moaned, and Haruka pulled her hands away. Ami pulled them back. "No, not that, I liked that. Apologizing. Stop it. It happened, let's forget about it. It would be notably pathetic if we were too busy fighting each other to fight the youma, so we should leave it in the past, where it belongs." She almost purred at Haruka's ministrations. "You know…you'd be a good mother."

"Say what!" Haruka squawked. "Where did _that_ come from?"

"My mother did this the last time I went on one of these," Ami mumbled quietly, arching into Haruka's hands blissfully. Only for Haruka to rap her on the head, producing a mewl of complaint.

"Enough of that. You've already got a guy waiting for you outside," the blonde scolded. "I'm sure he'll be happy to pet you all you want. Maybe I shouldn't have named Usagi Koneko, if you're like this." She paused, deciding whether she dared, and decided that yes, she did dare. "Don't think I didn't notice you clinging onto him in the haunted house. I know you don't scare _that_ easily. But, hey…I bet his willingness to hold back your hair will be a big help when you get morning sickness."

"_Haruka!"  
++++++++++++++++_

"So, twenty questions?" Usagi mused while sipping hot chocolate. She and Mamoru were walking in the park, enjoying the moderately good weather while it lasted. "All right, I'll bite. What do you want to be when you grow up?"

"A doctor. It's been my dream ever since I was little. You?"

"I used to want to work at illustrating manga and stuff, but I've been thinking about teaching little kids in their first or second year of school. That might be nice."

"To each their own, I suppose. What's your favorite subject in school?"

"Gym. I'm also okay at Literature and History but everything else…ugh. You?"

"Chemistry, at the moment, but I'm planning on taking a botany elective that sounds fun. I've always been fond of flowers."

"Botany?"

"Study of plants."

"Oh. Huh, I always thought that was herbology. How did you meet Motoki?"

"Much the same way I met Haruka. We were partners for a project in high school and decided we liked hanging out. How did you meet…your best friend, I forget her name?"

"Naru. We met in a sandbox at the playground, our moms exchanged numbers, and then we ended up in the same class in elementary school. Been together ever since. Ow!"

"What's wrong?"

"Drank a bit too much. Scalded my tongue," she answered, sticking the appendage out. "That ever happen to you?"

"Once or twice. It happens to everyone. Have you ever been to the hospital?"

"Not since my mom had Shingo. He's my little brother."

"Do you get along?"

"Hey! It's my turn to ask a question! But yes, we can stand each other most of the time," she added primly. "Have _you_ ever been to the hospital?"

"Yes, many times. It's part of why I want to be a doctor."

"What happened? Are you sick?" Usagi asked worriedly, putting a hand on his arm.

"I…not exactly. Do you know what amnesia is?"

"It's when you can't remember anything about your past, right? Not your name, or your house, or your friends. It's like you're a completely new person."

"Close. That's a common misconception. Amnesia is actually when you can't make any new memories, not when you lose the old ones. But your answer was actually more relevant."

"You have amnesia?" Usagi asked wonderingly. She tilted her head and squinted, as though trying to see it in him.

Mamoru laughed. "Close enough." Then he became more sober. "I told you I was an orphan, right? Well I lost my parents in a car crash when I was six, but I can't remember it. The earliest memory I have is waking up in the hospital with no idea of where I was or _who_ I was."

"That's awful," Usagi gasped, hugging him. He squirmed uncomfortably for a moment, and then accepted it.

"I've learned to live with it, but thank you. But my point is that I can't remember my parents at all, so I was in and out of the hospital a lot trying to get my memory back. Even my name…I've just taken it on trust that my name was what the doctors said it was."

"Did you ever remember?" Usagi asked softly.

"No, but the blanks n my mind I can cope with." He sighed, and motioned for them to keep walking. "There are other things…but I think it's my turn to ask a question. Have you ever had a boyfriend?"

"Hey!" she yelped. "Well…no, not really, I guess. I have friends who are boys, but this-" she raised her hand, which was intertwined with his, "-is pretty new for me. How about you?"

"No, no ex-girlfriends hiding in my closet," he admitted.

"Seriously? Because," she trailed off, blushing, "well, I'd have thought they'd be all over you."

"Thanks," he chuckled. "To be honest, I did have a lot of offers. And there were plenty of years when I wanted to skip school on Valentine's Day, except that the one year I did all the girls just ganged up on me the day after. Hey, it's not funny," he complained as Usagi burst out cackling.

"O-oh you p-poor thing-g," she giggled. "I'm-m sure th-that must have been—a-awful!"

"Well how would you feel if a mob of boys swamped you on White Day?" he countered grumpily.

"I'd think, 'Cool, free stuff!'" she giggled.

"A dozen boys giving things, asking you out with such hope in their eyes, and you having to turn them all down?" Usagi's giggles died down a little. "And because you've turned so many people down it would look really, _really_ bad if you did accept someone's offer?"

"Okay, I guess it isn't that funny after all," she admitted. "Still, it's not every day you hear boys complain about having a problem like that. Most people would enjoy it."

"Most people would either abuse it and get slapped or be too terrified to enjoy it." He paused. "Although I have to admit, I'd like to see what Haruka goes through every Valentine's Day."

Usagi giggled again. "Valentine's Day, nothing! I want to see her running in circles every White Day, trying to give back to all the girls she got stuff from, don't you?" They both laughed at that thought.  
+++++++++++++++++++

"So should we split up race for the exit, or stick together?" Haruka asked the other two as they came to a fork in the road in the House of Mirrors.

"I…think we should stick together," Ami decided, glancing at Ryo. "If one of us gets to the exit early, it wouldn't be much fun to just wait outside for the others." _And if we meet a youma, I want us both here to fight,_ she added silently.

"Okay," Ryo hesitantly agreed, having wanted some time alone with Ami. She squeezed his hand reassuringly, and he smiled and squeezed back.

"Alright then. So, left or right?" Haruka repeated, smirking at the two younger ones. "We need to be out in forty-five minutes for the Dream Princess's show Mrs. Urawa said, right?"

"That's right, but how about left," Ryo suggested, and they began down the hall.

"How creepy. There are millions of me here," Haruka muttered after a while. "Is there a scientific limit on how many reflections you can cast, Blue?"

"No. Eventually the reflections will be too small or distorted for us to see, or covered up by our bodies, but there's no limit to the number of reflections that could theoretically be cast in a perfect system." She paused and shivered, clutching Ryo's hand a bit harder. "Does anyone else feel chilly?"

"A little," he admitted. "Suddenly this doesn't seem like such a fun idea."

"Well, the only way out is through," Haruka huffed, "and the faster we're in, the better." Ami touched her shoulder. "What?"

"I know a strategy for getting through a maze. I should have thought of it earlier," she informed them, and laid a finger against the wall on their right. "Just keep one hand always touching one of the walls to your side, and you'll eventually end up at the exit, or where you started, in which case the other wall will lead to the exit."

"Seems as good an idea as any," Haruka said with a shrug, and they began tracing their way among the maze. A few corridors later her head snapped to one side. "Did you just see something?"

"What?"

"I'm not sure. It looked like something flickered in the mirror."

Ami looked at her with a frown. "If something was in the mirror, it should have been reflected several dozen times," she murmured thoughtfully. Haruka was about to insist that she'd seen _something,_ but the bluenette mouthed 'Youma?' at her.

"Maybe. I just had an odd thought," Haruka quipped.

"What?" Ryo asked.

"Vampires don't cast reflections. Wouldn't it be smart for one to hide in a house of mirrors like this? No sunlight, people walking through all on their own and getting lost, it's easy to hide…"

"An idea for a story, perhaps," Ami agreed, but realization had dawned in her eyes. Her hand twitched towards grabbing the Mercury Computer, but she couldn't with Ryo around. "Let's…keep going, please."

They continued on down the halls, making half a dozen turns through the dimly lit tunnels, only for Haruka to hiss and swear, spinning around.

"Shit, I know I saw something!" Her voice echoed through the corridors, murmurs and whispers rebounding back on them.

"Do you know what you saw?" Ami asked intently, her eyes refusing to stay still.

"No, but…is it just me, or have our reflections changed?"

"Changed?" Ryo asked. Ami looked at the mirrors carefully, biting her lip.

"It's possible that they changed the construction of the mirrors, or warped them slightly to achieve a certain effect." Tendrils of cold stroked her spine, even through her jacket, and she pulled closer to Ryo. "I don't see it, but is that what you mean?"

"I…no," Haruka muttered, glancing around. "Is it just me, or are we missing a few reflections?"

"Missing reflections?" Ryo murmured, leaning in to look at a mirror.

"That's the only way I can say it. Like…there aren't as many of me as there's supposed to be." Echoes of other people in the maze ghosted through the halls, and Haruka stuck her head around the corner, but no one came into sight. "I know it sounds crazy, but…"

"No, I see it too," Ryo said. "I remembered counting out six reflections on my right at one point, when you asked about how many there could be. Now there are only four."

"I think," Ami said, a little too loudly, "that it's just the changing angles and possible the composition and arrangement of the mirrors. They call magic tricks 'smoke and mirrors' for reason." Puffs of breeze wafted through the halls, like the chuckles of a watching spirit, and she meeped. "But it's still a really good trick! Now let's get out of here! Please!"

"Seconded!" Haruka began to drag the both of them down the halls, only for her communicator to begin buzzing. She froze. "Um…"

"I can't believe you get reception in here," Ryo mused.

"Should you…get that?" Ami wondered.

"Yeah…" Haruka looked at them carefully, the buzzing almost deafening in the silence. "You two go on ahead. Right hand on the wall, and I'll catch up, right?"

"Are you sure that's safe?" Ami asked intently.

"It couldn't be that dangerous. This is just an amusement park attraction," Haruka said reassuringly.

Except that she and Ami both knew it might _not_ be.

"Right hand on the right wall," Ami reminded her, and she and Ryo trudged down the hall. Haruka dashed back around the corner and flipped it open to talk to Luna.

"What's the news?"

"We have two updates," the mau explained calmly. "The first is that in addition to passing out, several people have been identified as missing from Dreamland."

"I'm really not surprised. What else?" Haruka hissed. Something clicked behind her, and she spun around with her fists up, her heart roaring in her ears.

There was nothing there.

"Are you alright?" she heard Luna asked.

"False alar-AHH!" she shrieked, turning back around only to stumble back into the mirror behind her, after finding herself face to face with—

Her reflection.

"Yeah, false alarm," she panted. Was it her imagination, or…no there _were_ only three of her in each of the mirrors now. Ryo had said that there were four per side before. Shit. "Hurry up and talk, this place is freaking me out. I'm almost positive a youma's around, but for the life of me I can't find it!"

"Wouldn't Mercury be better at that?" Luna asked.

"Blue's looking, but she's also got a boyfriend tagging along," Haruka snapped. "Now spill!"

"Ahem. Yes, well, at the hospital, someone noticed something disturbing about all of the patients."

"Which was…?"

"They don't cast any reflections. My theory is that their reflection were somehow stolen. The Dark Kingdom is draining energy through the reflections, even after the victims have left the area." Haruka, disbelieving of her own ears, sank to the ground and began laughing hysterically. The cackles seemed to be joined by echoes of other malicious laughter, too far away to hear clearly. "Uranus, are you quite all right?"

"I just wish you'd told me that before I got myself left all alone in the _House of Mirrors,_" she said bitterly.

"Oh, my! You need to get out of there as quickly as possible."

"I intend to," she said shortly, snapping the compact closed. Then she broke into a run.

_Right hand on the right wall, right hand on the right wall,_ she thought to herself, making it into a mantra as she devoured the distance with her feet. And yet the entire time, no matter how far or fast she went, it felt as though something were hovering over her shoulder, laughing maliciously.

_Right hand on the right wall, right hand on the right wall, right handontherightwa—Light!_ She slowed her pace, seeing genuine daylight around a corner up ahead.

She turned the corner and stopped, panting, relieved to see Ami and Ryo sitting together on a bench across the plaza. She began to walk down the final hall and out of the hellish place, and her eye strayed to one side to see the state of her reflections.

She froze.

It was probably intentional, to hide the very thing she was looking for, but the last stretch of hallway wasn't mirrors. It was metal. Walls of brightly polished but slightly burnished copper stretched on both sides of her. She could barely see any reflection at all, and what she saw was weak and watery. And then her reflection smirked.

She was outside in the plaza, panting, before she realized she had moved.

"I know. I felt claustrophobic too," Ryo sympathized, the two of them walking up to support her.

"That…was so _wrong,_" Haruka whispered. Even here, she didn't want to speak too loudly. Swallowing the rising bile in her throat she stood up. "How—How long do we have until the Dreamland thing?"

"More than twenty minutes," Ami immediately replied. She'd been keeping track as well. Good. The two of them shared a look. "Ryo," she began.

"I don't mean to ruin your pseudo-date," Haruka interrupted, "but would you mind if Ami and I split off from you until the Princess thing? We've got something to do, and it's not exactly a thing boys should be around for."

Ryo blinked. "But aren't you a—"

"Haruka's a girl, albeit an androgynous one," Ami told him solemnly. The blonde pulled her shirt collar to one side, briefly displaying a strap on her shoulder. "We have something to take care of, and I'd rather you weren't anywhere nearby while we do," she explained apologetically.

"Girl stuff?"

"Cramps," she said simply, and he flushed, "and I really don't want you within one hundred meters of me for a little while." A red blush rose to her cheeks as well. "Especially since I just said…oh dear." She buried her burning cheeks in her hands and stared adamantly at the ground, while Ryo examined the clouds intently.

"Right. I-I'll see you two in twenty minutes," he muttered, walking away hastily.

"I can't believe you said that," Haruka cackled as she and Ami walked off to look for a place to transform.

"Neither can I," Ami whispered, her cheeks a brilliant red.

"Ya've always seemed so straight-laced," the blonde continued blithely. "Was tha' a sample of the _feminine wiles_ you were talking about, or do you just not have a speech-censor?"

"I've never needed one before!" Ami wailed pitifully. Then she bumped into Haruka, who had stopped suddenly. She looked up at the older girl, to find Haruka staring right back at her with an odd look in her eye.

"Seriously?" Haruka asked carefully.

Ami blinked. "Seriously, what?"

"Did ya seriously not need ta censor yourself in the past? Most people do it sorta on their own." Ami thought over Haruka's question and realized that while she hadn't been thinking about what she'd said, it had been the truth.

"I…I suppose I never had enough friends to talk to that I needed to watch what I said," she answered quietly. "Mostly I would just talk with my mother or my teachers, and most of that was about school work. It's only since I met Usagi…"

"Yeah," Haruka agreed when the bluenette trailed off. "Well, don't worry—if anything, it's just a quirk of being you. No one who likes you will care if you mess up a little."

"Really?" Ami asked quietly. "Right now…with Ryo…he isn't going to think I'm weird, will he? He's the first boy I've ever…the first boy I've ever felt anything for, and I don't want to lose him by being too…too geeky."

Haruka wrapped an arm around her shy friend. "You mean you're afraid of being too you, and he's not going to like who you are?" Ami nodded mutely. "Don't be. He seems like a good kid, and anyone worthwhile would like ya for _who you are_."

"And I should believe you because you have so much experience dating boys, and are extraordinarily knowledgeable on what they do and do not find attractive," Ami deadpanned.

"'Cause I have so much experience dating girls and know a lot about what they do that is and isn't attractive," Haruka countered teasingly. "This isn't me saying that he's not the type of guy who'd care. This is me saying that you haven't done anything I'd care about if I were him." There were a few moments of silence as they kept walking.

"Thanks, Haruka. And I'm sorry about what I said earlier."

"Not a problem," the blonde drawled. "But if you don't want to lose your guy, then we should hurry up and find a place to transform."

"Yes, but I think he'd forgive me if we missed the Dream Princess performance," Ami said, half to herself. "It would just be a little awkward, and I'd have to apologize."

"That," Haruka agreed, "and the fact that the youma in the mirror has stolen his reflection and is draining his energy as we speak, so we need to stop it soon." Ami stumbled as the point hit home, and immediately began glancing around with just a touch of panic.

"Public restrooms?"

"Too public, and someone might see us go in and the senshi come out and put two and two togetha'," Haruka told her.

"Would the bushes over there work?"

"Again, too public."

"Should we transform when we get back in the House of Mirrors, then?"

"It's bad enough if we have to give regular people a glimpse of our transformation, but do you want to give a _youma_ an idea of what we look like? How about there?" she suggested, pointing to a door in a wall.

"But that say Employees Only," Ami protested as Haruka led her towards the door. The blonde raised an eyebrow at her and she blushed.

"Needs must when th' devil drives," Haruka said with a grin. "'Sides, we'll only be there for a second or two." They slipped behind the door and produced their wands. "Uranus Power: Make Up!"

"Mercury Power: Make Up!"

A swirl of lights later the two senshi were dashing across the park, ignoring the reactions their presence provoked. In one case, Haruka actually leaped straight over a group who had been about to ask for an autograph, while Ami merely apologized and darted around them. Soon they were at the House of Mirrors and slipping past the line, while Ami hastily blurted out a warning that no one should enter the attraction for a few minutes.

They stopped three turns into the maze, at the first branch in the path.

"I'm a senshi, and this place is still creeping me the hell out," Haruka muttered. "Do you see anything?"

"See anything? Oh!" Ami quickly turned on her visor. "I'd forgotten." She took a few moments to silently scan their surroundings, even stepping back a bit to scan the way they'd come. "That mirror." She pointed.

"Is there a youma hiding in it or something?"

"Don't break it!" she yelled as Haruka drew back her fist.

"What, it would be seven years of bad luck?"

"No, but the spell matrix might self-destruct," Ami explained. "I need a bit more time to try and understand this." Haruka started tapping her foot as the seconds stretched on. Finally, Ami sighed and took a step back.

"Well?"

"It would be safe to destroy the mirror, but it wouldn't actually be helpful. It's just the channel used to steal people's reflections, but the youma has the reflections and is stealing the energy. It's just…somewhere else."

"So…find the youma?"

"Wait until we find the youma," Ami agreed, and began walking down the hall. "I'll tell you when I see more mirrors that have been enchanted."

"All right."

Three minutes of walking, nine turns, and seven enchanted mirrors later, Haruka was running out of patience.

"I hate ta be the one crackin' the whip here, but we need to do this faster."

"I can't control where the mirrors are, or where the youma might be," Ami reminded her.

"I know, but we're running out of time. Look at a mirror."

"Okay. What should I be seeing, aside from a definitive lack of enchantments or youma?"

"Dozens of reflections, how about? We ain't casting any. That means that the youma stole our reflections, and it might be draining us right now. Maybe it's just going to stay hidden until we've been drained dry, and finish us off when we pass out. All I'm sayin' is, maybe we could get its attention and make it come fight us if we started wrecking its stuff."

Ami was silent for a moment and then backtracked down the hall and around the corner. Haruka followed her to find her pointing at a mirror.

"That's the one that's enchanted. Feel free to smash it."

Haruka grinned and cracked her knuckles. "Gladly." An echoing voice stopped her just as she reared her fist back.

"Now, now, no need to go that far." They whirled around to find themselves facing the reflection of a youma in a mirror. Haruka immediately spun back around, driving a kick at where its head height would be, only to find the corridor behind them empty. "General Jadeite would be put out if his hard work was ruined," it observed.

"That's the real deal, Uranus," Ami explained under her breath. "It's not casting a reflection—its body is actually in the mirror."

"Uranus Space Shock!" the blonde's spell flew down the hall, hit the mirror where it stood…and bounced back.

"Shit!" she yelped, ducking under her own spell as it returned. They heard the crash of breaking glass as it shattered a mirror behind them. "What the hell was that?"

"You shouldn't have done that," the youma teased, stepping out of its mirror. There was a whoosh of pressurized air and a cloud of pink gas spread out from behind them, filling the hall.

"Down!" Ami yelled, and they both dove to the floor. "The hallucinogenic is lighter than air, so it will be easier and safer to breathe down here until it clears."

"Got it. And I think it must'a booby-trapped the mirrors, and breaking them set it off, so I'm sorry 'bout wanting to break 'em earlier."

"I didn't see any traps when I scanned them."

"That's the point of a good trap," Haruka muttered. "Maybe you could make a cloud of your own? Give us some cover?"

"I'll try. Mercury Spray Shroud!" For a moment the gray of the mist overwhelmed the pink gas, but then it vanished into thin air. "What?"

"It's no use," the youma taunted, stepping through the cloud. Its hide was the same color as tarnished brass with small, smooth circles scattered across its body, and it had thin, brittle-looking limbs. There was a larger, smooth oval in the center of its torso, looking like a mirror, in which Ami could faintly see distorted, watery, miniature images of people crowding against one another in a panic. Its head was heavily insectile, with mandibles instead of a mouth and two smooth circles in its otherwise empty eye-sockets.

_Why can't I scan it?_ She wondered frantically. Her visor had gone blank, and was refusing to give a reading.

"I'm gonna," Haruka began, trying to stand up, only for the youma to cut her off.

"Moving isn't allowed," it taunted, and the ground beneath her limbs writhed, morphing into mud that she sank into before re-hardening. "Now, Shunfleré will peel you apart an inch at a time."

"Aqua Bubble Burst!" Ami cried frantically. She could _feel_ the magic work, but no water appeared. "How…?"

"You stepped into Shunfleré's lair, said the spider to the fly. And here, Shunfleré is god," it gloated, and dozens of spiders began skittering out of the mist and towards the two senshi, as the ground swallowed Ami's legs as well.

"No. No, no, nonononono!" Ami panicked, her mind racing at top speeds. _This youma is insanely powerful! Even Shadow Warriors can't do things like this! Stealing reflections, conjuring hallucinogenic gas, summoning and controlling animals, manipulating the earth, conjuring hallucinogenic gas, sealing our powers…hallucinogenic gas! That's why it hasn't killed us already! Of course!_

"Uranus! Cast your Space Shock!"

"I can't get my hands free!" Haruka squawked back struggling as the tide of arachnids drew ever closer. She could almost imagine them: the itch as they swarmed over her; wanting to vomit as they burrowed into her nose, and ears, and mouth, and her _eyes_; the fire spreading as they began to bite.

"Doesn't matter! Stop thinking, stop feeling, just _cast_ straight at the ground!"

"Our powers aren't working!" Haruka reminded her as the chittering mass drew ominously nearer.

"_Do it!"_ Ami screamed.

"Uranus Space Shock!"

Something hit them like a truck, throwing both senshi into the air. Haruka flew straight back while Ami felt a mirror break when she slammed into it, but she escaped the worst of the shards and pulled herself to her feet.

The hallway was a wreck. There were wisps of gray mist and pink gas near the far ends, but the air near the center was empty. Where they had been trapped a crater was torn into the ground, and on the far side of the hall the youma was partially trapped in a slowly weakening shell of ice.

"What the hell?" Haruka groaned, standing up shakily.

"We got drugged," Ami said bluntly. "We inhaled enough of the gas to be trapped in a magical illusion that the youma was controlling. Our spells were working, and we weren't actually trapped, but our minds told us otherwise."

"No spiders, either," Haruka mused.

"No, no spiders. I realized that this youma was simply too powerful to be real. If it were really capable of all that, it would have already killed us. I must have happened to hit it with my Bubble Burst, which kept it from acting our real bodies. If I hadn't…"

"Scary thought," Haruka muttered. "We'd 'a been at its mercy. Uranus Space—"

"Don't!" Ami yelled, and the blonde paused. "Even if most of what we felt was an illusion, I'm certain that it _can_ reflect our spells back at us, and hitting it would free it from the ice so it could flee."

"Great, I'm gonna get youma blood on me again," Haruka groused.

"Don't attack its abdominal area—that mirror's heavily reinforced," Ami told her, scanning the trapped youma. "Aim for the cranium and cervical vertabrae. That means—"

"The head and the neck," Haruka finished. "What?" she asked when Ami shot her a surprised look, "I'm in college and I'm friends with a would-be doctor. Of course I know what cervical vertebrae are." She paused. "At least, you'd better have meant the neck. I'm not comfortable kicking it in the crotch, youma or not. Is it even female, ya think?"

"…O-okay. I was just worried that I should have censored that."

Haruka shrugged and reared back her fist.  
++++++++++++++

"Well, I guess this is goodbye," Mamoru said as he drove around the corner to her block. Usagi giggled in the passenger's seat.

"You should probably drop me off here," she advised. "Haruka was bad enough, but my dad will _really_ flip if he sees me with you."

"Avoid the shotgun and shovel, check," Mamoru quipped, and Usagi rolled her eyes.

"That has to be one of the stupidest stereotypes I keep hearing," she drawled playfully. "Fathers don't pull shotguns on their daughters' boyfriends. It's silly, and it's so overused that it's stopped being funny."

"What, you don't think fathers would go to ridiculous extremes for their baby girls?"

"Of course they would. But he's not going to pull a _shotgun_ on you," she answered, smirking. _Take the bait, I've been waiting days to say this line to someone,_ she silently pleaded. Mamoru obliged.

"I suppose flat out murder would be a little too much, even in defense of a daughter's honor," Mamoru allowed.

"No, I mean that that type of thing might happen in America or something, but with our gun laws there's no way daddy would even _have_ a shotgun to pull on you," she said airily, and continued on before he could respond. "He'd just grab Grandpa's old katana and castrate you." Mamoru gulped. "If you're lucky, he might be nice enough to clean the rust off and sharpen it, first," she added.

"Please tell me you're teasing me again," he pleaded, and she laughed. Her laugh, Mamoru noted, was high and light, and if sounds could be seen it would have looked like a silver bell. He immediately felt his lips quirk in response, and some of his tension eased away.

"Of course," she chirped, "as long as we're happy together, I'd never let Daddy _hurt you._ I might indulge him enough to let him scare you a little, but that's only because I love him." Mamoru smiled back, but something she'd said niggled at him. He probably shouldn't have asked, but damn, it was _far_ too easy to talk to this angel in his car.

"You said, 'as long as we're happy together,'" he noted. "Not that I think we _won't_ be, but no one does, going into a relationship. Should I start worrying about him if we lose that spark?" Usagi put a finger to her lips and looked to the sky, thinking the question over.

"Well, no, you don't have to worry about Daddy if something like that happens," she mused. "If we just break up or agree to be friends, it wouldn't really be fair to do that, so I wouldn't let Daddy _hurt you._" He paused and looked him in the eye solemnly. "And if it's something nastier, like you cheat on me or something—I really don't think you will, but it happens to other people—but if that happens, I still wouldn't let Daddy hurt you." She narrowed her eyes slightly, and Mamoru felt a shiver travel down his spine. "I'd just grab the katana and insist on doing it myself."

"Duly noted," he said, and kissed the back of her hand, prompting another silvery giggle. Then something from their conversation that he hadn't quite noticed clicked, and he raised his gaze back to hers, not releasing her hand. "Just now," he said carefully, "you talked about us dating and being boyfriend and girlfriend. Are we? Officially?"

"Going steady?" Usagi mused, and gave him a soft smile. "Tell you what, let's work out a second date next time we meet at the Crown, and then we'll go steady. Deal?"

"Deal," he immediately agreed. She leaned forward and pecked him on the cheek. Then she stepped out of his car, and began walking down the street to her house, saying goodbye with a jaunty wave. Dazed, he waved blearily after her, watching until after she'd turned the corner and walked into her house. Then he grinned, and drove off whistling a tune.  
++++++++++++++++

"I'm not late, am I?" Ami asked as she dashed up to Ryo, who was waiting outside the Dream Theatre.

"No, they've opened up seating but we still have a minute or two." He glanced around uncertainly. "Where did…?"

_Haruka wanted to wash off the youma blood, calm down, report in to Luna, and look around for Rainbow Crystal carriers, _Ami thought.

"Haruka decided she didn't want to see the show and went off to do her own thing. She also warned me that she might just leave while we're watching it, and not to look for her afterwards."

"Do you need a ride?" Ryo asked.

"I think your mother will have her hands full with your sister and friends," Ami demurred politely. "I will just take a bus…Unless you want to, um, go somewhere together after this?" She blushed as they slid into the row with the gaggle of giggling girls that composed his sister's birthday party.

"I…would like that very much," Ryo said quietly, taking her hand in his. She smiled and squeezed lightly, and then the lights dimmed.

"Welcome," the Dream Princess announced on stage, "to the Sweet Dreams Theatre. Thank you for attending our performance today. And without further ado, let the show begin." Then she cupped her hands and blew out a pink cloud, which swept across the audience with a sweet, flowery fragrance.

A pink cloud that, Ami realized almost too late, looked horribly familiar.

"No!" she yelled and scrambled out of her chair, pulling out her transformation wand. Ryo half-turned towards her before the gas kicked in, and he passed out alongside the rest of the crowd.

"Mercury Power: Make Up!"

In a flash she was enveloped in the lights and streams of water of her transformation. A moment later Sailor Mercury stood and glared at the youma on the stage.

"Oh my, it appears Murid has a special guest," the youma said, cocking its head. Ami opened her mouth to retort, pointing an accusatory finger at it, and then realized that she had probably inhaled too much gas and was caught in an illusion. She pointed her hand back at herself.

"Aqua Bubble Burst!"

The shock of cold water hit her hard enough that she nearly screamed, but she shook off the worst of it and faced the youma. A twiddle of her fingers turned on the fire alarm and sprinklers, raining water down on the audience, but—

"That won't work, I'm afraid," it taunted. "This is a very powerful gas. You can resist it, I suppose, but weak-willed humans will sleep for the whole hour, even as the room crashes down around them." Ami scowled and pulled out her communicator.

"There's another youma in the Dream Theatre," she snapped as soon as Haruka's face flickered onscreen. "Hurry up, please. I can't hold out for too long." She pocketed the device and turned her attention back to the youma, only to realize that it had disappeared.

_I really should know better than to take my eyes off the enemy,_ she thought to herself while scanning around for it. Nothing in the audience, no trapdoors under the stage, and it didn't appear to be invisible. _At least it didn't attack me._

"How far the Dark Kingdom has fallen, to be hiding from me like a scared spider," she mused aloud, hoping to draw it out.

"Ooh, what a good idea!" the youma chirped.

"How so?" Instead of an answer, the youma's reedy voice echoed into the room, singing an eerie melody.

"_The itsy-bitsy spider climbed up the water spout."_

A chorus of chittering picked up as a tide of spiders poured out from the shadows, surrounding her. They spread across the floor, covered over members of the audience, climbed the walls around her, and then halted five feet away from Ami. She spun around slowly, eyeing the circle and hoping she was still in an illusion.

"Aqua Bubble Burst!" The shock of cold water squeezed a whimper out of her, but she pushed it out of her eyes to see…the same tide of spiders. "It did say the gas was a different formula," Ami muttered. _With all the civilians, I guess I have no choice but to play along._

_"Down came the rain, and washed the spider out."_

The tide suddenly parted, giving Ami a clear path to the door out, but she didn't dare take the bait. Then, with the shriek of tortured metal, the door gave in as a monster burst into the room. For a moment Ami couldn't be certain what it was: spider, humanoid, or another youma. All she could do was throw herself out of the way as it charged her.

"What would the proper term for that be, an arachnotaur?" she muttered to herself. Indeed, close to the ground were eight legs and the abdomen of a golden-brown wolf spider, if the spider were four feet long. Rising up in place of the thorax, however, was a humanoid torso and head. Its arms were human to the elbow but took on spidery qualities from the elbows to the tips of its claws. The archnotaur also had a human head but the compound eyes and sharp mandibles of a spider.

"Alussein will kil-lee!" it shrieked, and charged.

"Aqua Bubble Burst!" Ami countered, hoping to stop it in its tracks. Instead the youma swung its torso out of the way while its legs kept skittering towards her. On some level, Ami knew that she should dodge, but she also felt sure that this charge—and this youma—was an illusion. She assumed a guard stance as the creature got within striking range.

_This will probably hurt, but it shouldn't— _The youma's front-most legs lashed out and Ami went flying up onto the stage. _It's real! This is bad, I'm dealing with two youma teamed up against me, might or might not be caught in an illusion, and Haruka still hasn't shown up to help. I have to hold out until she does, I suppose. Now…what strategy can I use?_

"Mercury Spray Shroud!" she called. _My magic still appears to work,_ she noted as the room filled with mist. The arachnotaur immediately flattened its body, both thorax and torso, against the ground as low as possible, and swiveled its head in an attempt to peer through the fog.

"_Out came the sun, and dried up all the rain."_

"Alussein!" it chittered, and from its hand a dozen strands of webbing shot into the air, striking and breaking part of the ceiling, also somehow clearing some of the fog around it.

_Alright, Ami, this is the moment to take stock of the situation. I'm fighting one youma, with the second one either hiding in wait or having fled. I will assume it's hiding, and in wait for an appropriate ambush. What do I know?_

_The arachnotaur is very strong and fast physically—it's better than me, and might give Haruka a run for her money. It also can spit threads for a long-range attack, and they have a great deal of magical and kinetic force if they both cleared the air and broke the ceiling. They do not appear to be sticky, but I will assume that like normal spiders it has the ability to control what type of webbing it uses._

_The doll-like youma that was the Dream Princess is not a close combat fighter, or else it would have taken advantage of the superior numbers to engage me. Given that there is still a tide of spiders in the room, but they have appeared to take no action aside from getting out of my and the youma's way, I will assume that I am still in an illusion. I cannot break it the way I did the first, but this one appears to be more subtle or difficult to control, given that it hasn't messed with my mind too much. Possibly it's preoccupied keeping the civilians asleep while…it…drains them._

_Great. A time limit before it takes the energy and runs is just what I need, and it's also keeping them here as hostages to make fighting more difficult, I don't doubt. And lastly, Haruka still hasn't shown up yet. Since I didn't manage to find out where she was, I should assume that it may take as long as ten or fifteen minutes before she arrives. I should also assume that she might not arrive, as they may have ambushed her as well, and that I am on my own._

_Wonderful. _Ami grit her teeth and pointed an arm at the youma. "Aqua Bubble Burst!" The spell splashed harmlessly against the floor as the youma _jumped_ over it and onto the stage, swiping with its left arm. Ami dodged the blow and jumped as it bent one of its forelegs at an odd angle in an attempt to sweep her legs out from under her.

The bluenette drilled a fist toward its eyes, aiming to gouge them out, only for it to negligently knock her arm aside and smash her head hard enough to make the world spin. Ami pulled away from the wall she hadn't even realized she'd been thrown into by the blow, only to see the arachnotaur leaping into the air.

"Mercury Spray Shroud!" It chittered in shock as it fell into the cold cloud and immediately leaped right back out without attacking. Ami used the brief reprieve to get her head together. _It looks like it doesn't like the cold, which explains why it's been dodging all of my spells. Maybe I should lure it in close with hand-to-hand, and cast at point-blank range._

She allowed her mist to fade away, shakily assuming a stance, and made the traditional 'bring it on' sign with one hand. The youma, however, had apparently learned caution. It cocked its head to the side and rearranged its legs. It took Ami a moment to recognize it, but the youma's body language now resembled a martial arts stance she had learned. Its arms were not quite crossed over its chest, it had twisted its torso sideways to present a smaller target, and while the other six were arranged somewhat haphazardly, its two forelegs were positioned much the same way a human's would be.

For a moment Ami tried to analyze it with her visor, only for the blank blue screen to remind her that she was still affected by the other youma's illusion, in some form. Whether it did more than blank out her scanner and generate the creepy sea of spiders around them both was something she'd have to figure out on her own.

"Alussein!" It chittered, and blasted a spear of webbing at her. Ami dodged to one side—a little more clumsily than usual due to the beating she'd taken—and nearly got knocked off her feet when the attack hit the wall, and the shockwave of air hit her from behind. Capitalizing on her loss of balance, the youma charged forward with shocking speed. Ami dodged a punch, only for its right foreleg to swing up and 'knee' her in the stomach.

"Rime Guard," she coughed out as it swung its arm at her head. The clawed limb hit the wall of ice, and more ice crept across the limb, freezing the youma in place. Its knee-jerk reaction was to strike the wall with its other arm and a foreleg, compounding the problem. Ami only took time for one deep breath before she was moving again.

Darting around the frozen shield Ami dropped her heel down on the immobilized youma's thorax, hoping to hinder its movement or crush something vital. Her foot hit nothing but air, and she wheeled her arms to keep from falling.

Faster than she could blink, in the middle of her strike, the arachnotaur had somehow swung its back half 90 degrees away from her, while still frozen to the ice!

"That's impossible," Ami mused. Then, remembering that she was in the middle of a battle, she tried a jump-kick aimed at the back of its head. The youma couldn't dodge, but it hunched up and twisted in some attempt at defense, chittering. A puff of air and ice shards heralded the release of one arm, but it was too slow.

There was a crack as the youma's forehead was smashed against the ice, though she knew that the wound was far from fatal. Pushing off slightly, Ami aimed to land on its thorax, where she could target organs and legs with her bare hands at point blank range.

"_And the itsy, bitsy spider went up the spout again."_

Instead, she landed on her butt on the floor, as it once again swung its thorax away faster than she had seen. _That's completely impossible! Is this part of the illusion I'm caught in, because it cannot move that faster at this range._

"Alussein!" it shrieked, ripping its other arm free with a spray of ice shards. Realizing that she should _move_ before it got its full mobility, Ami jumped back, simultaneously casting.

"Aqua Bubble Burst!"

Too slow. Ripping its leg free the youma swung around (much more slowly than when she'd aimed at its thorax, but still plenty fast, Ami noted clinically) and ducked under the spell. Only its left arm, used to shield its head, was hit; but the water splashed off the shield and pooled onto the floor, freezing its feet in place as well. The other arm it thrust out at Ami while she was still in mid-air, shrieking, "Alussein!"

The spear of webbing hit her dead in the stomach, blasting her two feet into the air, and a dozen feet across the stage and into the wall. She choked, just breathing for a moment, and then forced her eyes open.

The first thing she saw was the sea of spiders that had cleared a circle for five feet around her. Her body was slightly numb and tingly, but she didn't _think_ she had crushed any when she hit the wall.

_Of course I didn't, the spiders are part of the illusion. They just—_she swiped an arm out while trying to stand, and the chittering tide flowed away from her—_flow away whenever I get too close. They're not real, so I can't hit them._ She paused, something niggling her brain about that train of thought, and raised her head in time to see the arachnotaur rip one of its forelegs free from the ice. _I couldn't touch the thorax either, so could that be part of the illusion?_ Could it be a more humanoid youma appearing like that to throw me off? Something was definitely niggling at her, but her head was swimming too much to put her finger on it. What was it? _The audience?_

The sleeping people, covered by the tide of spiders, remained undisturbed by the fight going on. _I know that I want to avoid casualties, but I'm surprised that the youma hasn't used them as a hostage yet. Perhaps it doesn't want to risk a source of energy?_ She stepped forward and stretched out a tentative hand to check one man's pulse and temperature (both of which dropped when someone was drained).

"Alussein!" the youma shrieked, throwing a spear of webbing at her head. Ami jerked backwards in time for it to fly past her head and dig a chunk out of the wall.

"So, you don't want me touching the victims, do you?" Ami mused. Something was wrong. Something was definitely wrong, and if she weren't already run-down, beaten, and tired, she'd have already figured out what. "The webbing!" she gasped.

The youma had been throwing around blasts of web, but she couldn't see any remaining on the battlefield. Not even on her stomach, where she'd been hit only seconds earlier. Nor was there any webbing where the spear just thrown had gouged a chunk out of the wall. _Then maybe there is no webbing, and it's another attack disguised to look like web. And then it stands to reason that the youma is only disguised to look like a spider! But then…why?_

"Uranus Space Shock!" a voice shouted just as the youma ripped free the other foreleg. Ami snapped her head around as the yellow blast dropped onto the youma, which only just dodged in time. "I am Sailor Uranus and I will murder you," a voice told the youma blithely.

"Uranus!" Ami cried joyfully, seeing the tall blonde looking down on them from the catwalks above the stage. Sailor Uranus jumped lightly down and immediately moved into hand-to-hand with the youma, which had recoiled. Then, almost hesitantly, the youma began fighting back against the senshi. _That's strange,_ Ami noted.

Uranus was moving quickly, and with what appeared to be great skill, but she didn't seem to be hitting the youma very much, and what hits she could land didn't seem to do much in the way of damage. Ami knew that her own strikes had hurt the youma much more, and she had only half of Uranus's strength, if that.

Even more oddly was how the youma was fighting. It had, Ami noticed, at least one or two openings it could try to attack, yet it seemed content to try and fend off Uranus instead. What attacks it did try looked like attempts at grappling moves, holds, or throws, in contrast to the vicious blows it had launched against Ami.

_It's almost like it doesn't want to hurt her,_ Ami mused, confused, but glad for the chance to get her head together. It was a shame they were indoors, and away from the healing powers of sunlight, but the chance to catch her breath was welcome. Then the youma leapt backwards and Uranus cast a second spell.

"Uranus Space Shock!" The yellowish bolt flew from her hand and past the youma, into the audience.

"Those are civilians!" Ami shrieked, and was running to check the damage before she realized she had moved. "What were you think—"

"Alussein!" the youma shrieked, and Ami paused and stumbled as a spear of webbing—or whatever the illusioned attack really was—hit the floor of the stage in front of her feet, sending up a spray of air pressure and splinters.

"Aqua Bubble Burst!" Ami countered, stopping the youma in its tracks. It had been approaching the civilians as well, and now the two eyed each other carefully, neither willing to let the other take a step. "Uranus," Ami snapped harshly without looking away, "what were you _thinking_? We do. _Not_. Harm. _Civilians_. Our job is too _protect_ people. Even the _youma_ has shown more concern for these people than that, and it only wants to drain them!"

The moment of silence stretched on, as the three combatants stood silently, catching their breath and sizing each other up. Then Uranus spoke.

"I…apologize," Uranus said formally. "You are absolutely correct, senshi Mercury. My actions were completely out of line—I became agitated and lost focus, and I am sincerely sorry." Silence stretched on and Mercury briskly nodded, her full attention focusing back on the arachnotaur, and how they could…senshi Mercury?

Ami's head throbbed, but she didn't flinch, instead raising both arms in front of her slowly and deliberately. She made two knife-hands. Then she crossed her left arm in front of her horizontally, and touched her right hand's fingertips to her left palm, making what any elementary school student would recognize as the 'Time Out' sign.

"Senshi Mercury?" Uranus asked uncertainly.

"Don't move or attack, I'm trying an experiment that might take it out," Ami said briskly. In front of her, the youma cocked its head, confused. Then it raised its hands and mimicked her signal. The bluenette nodded briskly, and began slowly inching towards Uranus. "I think our best bet is the maneuver we spent yesterday practicing, since it's fresh in our minds."

"I'm…not so sure," Uranus said hesitantly. "Why don't we just gang—" Ami's punch to Uranus's stomach didn't send it flying or crush anything vital, but it doubled her over and dropped her to her knees.

"Aqua Bubble Burst," Ami chanted calmly, freezing the unprotected blonde as her visions began to blur at the edges. She took two quick, careful steps backwards and made a dramatic, "all yours," bow and sweeping motion with her arms. Her vision was definitely fuzzy as the illusion fell apart, the sea of spiders smearing into an indistinct back blob, other colors blurring together sickeningly, giving her a sense of vertigo.

She managed to hear the clomp of running footsteps as the other combatant apparently took her cue, but Ami was doubled over with nausea, and only heard the sound of an impact and the shattering of ice. After another moment the world righted itself, and she stood up to survey the damage.

"I," she began darkly, "thoroughly, exceptionally, immensely, exceedingly, monumentally, really, really, _hate_ illusions," she spat viciously.

"I ain't about ta argue," Haruka groaned. "Ya hit _hard_ for someone so skinny. I must be a better teacher than I thought."

"_I_ hit hard? Most of the time I was worried you were going to punch _through_ me or kick my head off. What did you think you were fighting, by the way? You looked like a giant arachnotaur."

"Half-human, half-spider?"

"Precisely."

"Freaky. You looked like…well, it's dust now, but you looked like the youma whose head I just kicked in." Ami frowned.

"Please tell me that it looked like a giant doll, and spat that pink smoke from the house of mirrors. The idea of that one still running around is very unappealing."

"Nope, that was it to a Tee," Haruka assured her. "I'm guessing your mist looked like that pink smoke, and your bubbles was some kind of acid. Then when it actually showed up, it looked like you, one you were brainwashed and said you were a loyal servant of the Dark Kingdom."

"So you didn't want to hurt me, and thus it," Ami concluded. "I saw it as you, and assumed you had finally showed up to reinforce me after getting waylaid by another youma, or such. It probably gave you that false message when I heard it say it was going to punish you."

"Clever bugger," Haruka agreed. "What gave it away? I didn't get it until you made that time-out sign, and even then it took a bit to sink in."

"In retrospect, a dozen things," Ami griped. "If I wasn't preoccupied with the audience, tired from our earlier fight, caught off-guard by this one, and hit in the head so much, I would have figured it out much sooner. I _knew_ I was under some form of illusion, the arachnotaur was moving and fighting incorrectly, its thorax was an illusion, the false you threatened to murder the youma and endangered civilians…too many things for me to have taken this long." She rubbed the bridge of her nose and then looked around, turning on her visor.

"They okay?" Haruka asked.

"No one was hurt that I can see," Ami assured her. "They'll all be ready to wake up with all their energy in five to ten minutes." She hesitated. "I turned on the fire alarm and sprinklers earlier in an attempt to evacuate, but they wouldn't wake up. Did the fire alarm short out when we were fighting and I didn't notice? And shouldn't someone be here by now?"

"It shorted out a bit after we started fighting, pro'bly from one of th' spells," Haruka told her. "And before I came in, I told all the security guys to stay out, 'cause the youma would eat them alive. I'll go give them the all clear. You," she said firmly as Mercury began walking with her to the exit, "de-transform and go back to your seat, and pretend to be asleep. It'll save us a lot of questions. Go," she said firmly, and Ami nodded.

"Just one thing first," she muttered, and twiddled the fingers on her left hand, before swiping the hand through the air.

"What'd you do?"

"Blanked out the security tapes for the past half-hour, and the next five minutes," Ami said, dropping the senshi transformation. She yawned and staggered back into her seat. "I may not need to pretend to be asleep, I'm exhausted."

Haruka laughed, and walked out the door.  
+++++++++++++++++

"Well, come on Usagi," Naru gushed over the communicator, "talk! How did your date go? Did he take you anywhere romantic, did you hold hands, did you kiss? Dish!"

"All right, all right," Usagi relented, smiling brightly. "We didn't go anywhere more romantic than the park, and we started in a museum first. Yes, we held hands, and yes, I kissed him."

"Oh! On the first date? How daring," Naru teased. "Do you think he might be the one?"

Usagi thought about it, her eyes glazing over slightly. "Well, it's a bit early to tell," she mused. "We're going on a second date before we even decide if we're going steady. But, is he the one? Maybe," she finished.

"So, is he a good kisser? I bet college boys like him have a lot of experience."

"I just kissed him on the cheek," Usagi grumbled, "so how would I know? And he says that I'm pretty much the first girl he's had more than a passing interest in, so he doesn't have much experience."

"Aw, you're his first love? Really? That's so sweet," Naru gushed. "It's straight out of a fairytale, or something. Like Romeo and Juliet without all the blood and death."

"Or the complicated words," Usagi added, prompting a bark of laughter.

"Or that. But, didn't you say there were three girls he was trying to choose between? Do you really think that you're his first love, or was that sweet talk?"

"I asked him about that," Usagi admitted. "I'm not his first love, but I'm the first one that recip-…reciper-…that felt the same way."

"Reciprocated?"

"Right, that! Of the other two, one was a childhood friend who he hasn't seen in a while, with a age gap, he's not comfortable with, and the other's a coworker he shares the night shift with at his part time job. Aparently, she's already seeing someone else."

"What's his job?" Naru asked. Usagi laughed nervously.

"Eh, heh, heh. I don't really know," she admitted. "He said it was embarrassing, and he didn't want to talk about it much. And since, well, I don't want to talk about senshi stuff either, and he seemed fine if I got a call and had to cancel or run, I didn't really want to pry."

"Seems fair," Naru conceded. "So, you said he took you to a museum? I wouldn't have thought you liked that."

"Hey, I can be culted sometimes!"

"Cultured," Naru corrected drily, and raised an eyebrow. Her friend blushed.

"Okay, okay, I didn't think I was going to like it much either. But the reason we went was that they had a draw-your-own manga class in the basement that he took me to. It was really fun."

"Good call on his part. Did he draw very well?"

"Yeah, he was good, but he has all the creativity of a rock! I ended up coming up with the designs, even if he did the finished versions. But after that we wandered around the museum a little, and that's my _other _big news of the day."

"What happened? There wasn't a youma attack, was there?"

"I think I found another senshi," Usagi revealed.

"…Really?" Naru asked carefully.

Usagi nodded. "Really. Have you ever heard of Lawny Lanai?"

"The famous painter? If you buy one of her pieces you're guaranteed to find your partner! That Lawny Lanai?"

"Yup! She's got a display of her work at the museum. It's called, _The Kingdom On The Moon_."

"Oh, wow," Naru whispered.

"The second I saw it, something in me just clicked into place. It was definitely paintings of the Silver Millennium. I'll bet that if we go there, we might also see what some of the senshi look like, because at least one person looked like me, and another could have been Ami."

"Which one do you think she is?" Naru wondered.

"Well, she's older than us, so I'm betting she's an Outer. Luna said that Neptune was an artist and had psychic powers, so I'm betting that's her, and Reika is probably Pluto. And then when Mars comes from England we'll have seven senshi, and the Dark Kingdom will be in real trouble."

"Six," Naru corrected.

"Six what?"

"Senshi. You said seven. You, Ami, and Haruka are three. Then Mars when she arrives is four. "And if you're right about Neptune and Pluto, that will be five and six."

"And Mars will give you the Letter Compact, which makes seven! Or six and a half, if you want to get really technical, but I think you count as a full one."

"Oh, thanks," Naru said, blushing. "I'd sort of forgotten about that."

"Are you all right, Naru? Because you don't have to do it if you don't want to," Usagi told her worriedly.

"No! I want to!" she blurted, and then collected herself. "I'd just, sort of lost hope or whatever. I was feeling a little left behind, while you guys were fighting." Usagi leaned forward, almost touching her nose to the screen.

"Naru, I will _never_ leave you behind. I don't want you to fight, because it will put you in danger, but if you want to I will support you every step of the way. And regardless of how smart Ami is, and regardless of good Haruka is at beating up youma, and regardless of what the other senshi are capable of, there is _no one_ I would rather have watching my back than you."

"I…thanks," Naru choked out, her eyes glistening.

"Naru, _I_ do this because I _have_ to. No one else can be Sailor Moon, and if I'm not out there protecting people, than things like what happened to Hino-sensei will happen again. But you do this because you _want_ to, and that means a _lot_. Even if you stopped hanging out with the rest of the senshi, and moved away to another city or something, we would keep fighting. Yet even though you _could_ stop, you don't, because you believe it's the right thing to do. How many—" She cut off as the communicator beeped and first Haruka, and then Luna's faces appeared on the screen.

"Hey, I got news," the tallest senshi said. "Good, bad, good, more good, a little bad, and funny."

"Did the fight go well?" Usagi asked worriedly. Haruka looked like a bit of a wreck.

"Yes, speak up Uranus," Luna added.

"We're all in suspense," Naru said, "though I have to wonder where Ami is. Is she okay?"

"She's fine, if a bit exhausted. She's just busy right now. But I'll get to that when I tell you the funny news."

"What's the bad news?"

"The first piece of good news is that we found a youma in the house of mirrors. It went down pretty quickly, even though we got knocked around a little."

"Yes, the people at the hospital have already begun recovering," Luna informed them. "Did you find any leads on the handful of missing people, though?"

"Missing people!" Usagi squawked.

"We found everyone," Haruka assured her tiredly. "They were trussed up and being drained in the basement, because their life energy was especially abundant compared to the rest. But that leads me to the first piece of bad news. There was a second youma at the park."

"There was what!" Usagi shrieked.

"We killed it, but it was a bitch to take down, and it caught us by surprise. I officially hate illusion-users, by the way," she grumbled. "I'll tell you the whole story later, but yeah. We beat the youma, no one got hurt, and I gave them the info they needed to pay for damages. I also," she drew the word out, "found a crystal carrier, which is the next piece of good news."

"What? Who?" Usagi asked eagerly, hoping to finally beat the Dark Kingdom to the punch.

"I don't know, which is the piece of bad news," Haruka admitted, and produced the Moon Scepter. "When Ami and I first split up it was glowing pretty brightly, but that faded the more I looked, and then I got distracted by Blue's call about the second youma. I just decided to wait by the exit for them to leave, but I didn't see anyone, so it might have been a park worker I'm thinking, so we can go back tomorrow and look."

"That's wonderful!" Usagi chirped.

"Great job, and congratulations," Naru added.

"Yes, this is very good news," Luna agreed.

"And there's one more bit of news you guys'll love," Haruka added wickedly. "It has to do with why Ami's not here, and why we split up earlier."

"What?" Usagi asked.

"Ami has a boyfriend," Haruka revealed, to the squeals and giggles of the other girls.  
++++++++++++++

"Well, today was…interesting," Ryo said awkwardly as they stood outside Ami's apartment building. She blushed and looked away.

"You don't have to be nice for my sake, I know it was a horrific mess," she said.

"No!" Ryo cried urgently, waving his hands wildly. "Today was really fun! I'm serious!"

"Even with the youma attack?" Ami asked disbelievingly.

"Well, all's well that ends well. The senshi, Sailor Uranus, took care of that and no one got hurt. And everything else…I really enjoyed spending time with you today." A breeze blew and by, and she shivered in the cooler evening air. Ryo stepped forward and wrapped an arm around her, and she leaned into him.

"I was…scared," Ami admitted quietly, her face imitating a tomato. "It's not exactly what you think of, when you think of spending time together. Maybe…next time will be a little more normal?" Ryo blinked.

"Next time?" And then a grin spread across his face. "Yeah, maybe next time would be better. Um…I don't suppose there's a movie you'd like to see sometime soon?"

"I'd like that," she said quietly, and then kissed him on the cheek. They both blushed, and smiled at each other. Then, slowly and carefully, as though moving in slow motion, they both leaned forward and lightly brushed lips. Ryo felt her smile against him, and pulled her closer, deepening the kiss.

Ami went up on tiptoes, and wrapped one arm around his neck. They pulled apart a few inches, and then Ami closed her eyes and leaned back in blissfully. Ryo met her halfway.

They stood there for several moments, enjoying the sensations of the new experience. Ryo's eyes closed, and then his thoughts began to wander. Images flashed through his head, and they snapped open. He jerked away from Ami as though stung, and from the look on her face it might have been kinder for him to slap her.

"Ryo?" Her voice cracked, and tears were already welling up in her eyes. "What…why…didn't you… was it not good for you?" she finally whimpered softly.

"What? The glaze left his eyes, replaced by a new kind of shock and fear. "No! No, no, no no no! That's not it at all! It wasn't you swear!" He tried to pull her back towards him, but this time Ami flinched away. "It…have I ever told you that I'm psychic?" he asked quietly. Ami glanced back up to meet his eyes.

"Psychic? As in clairvoyance or telepathy?"

"Yes. And, well, I'm really _really _sorry_._ I never meant to read your mind, but—"

"You read my mind!" Ami yelped, horrified. If he had seen…

"Yes, but I _swear_ I will _never_ tell _anyone,"_ he said sincerely, and swallowed nervously, "Sailor Mercury."  
++++++++++++++++++++++++

Up to par? Next chapter will feature Shadow Warrior Bunbo, along with a twist or two. No guarantees on when it will be out though, with school starting so soon. Although for those of my fans who've been in this from the beginning, don't you think it's a little ironic that I keep on schedule all through school in the spring, and then lose it when I have free time in the summer? Any way, see you sometime soon!


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